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For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my
brother, my sister, my mother. Mk3:35 There are
natural kingdoms and there is a spiritual kingdom. The family that we are born into or the
family we naturally make is a natural kingdom.
For some that natural kingdom is a blessing. We may be fortunate to be part of a Christian
family and a loving one at that. Yet for
many in this world the natural family, the natural kingdom, is troublesome at
best. We may not have loving parents or
siblings or our children may be rebellious and worldly. If the latter happens to be the case, these
words of Jesus should give us hope. We
as Christians have the opportunity to
enter a spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of God, and discover brothers,sisters,
and mothers who are loving and kind. In
Mark 10:29 Jesus says the following: Verily I say unto you, There is no man that has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother or wife, or children, or lands for my sake, and the gospels. But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren.... with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last, and the last first. If our
family is not rooted in Christ and we find ourselves called to proclaim the
gospel of Christ, then what we lose by leaving family and house and land
behind, is a spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of God, and we receive a
hundredfold blessing and a spiritual family far and away better than the
natural one we were born into. Rather
than agonizing over the plight of our natural family, we can begin to love our
neighbor as ourself and discover sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers of a
spiritual nature.
There is a natural kingdom and a spiritual kingdom. To begin to live the gospel of love will ultimately gain for us eternal life even if our natural family didn't measure up. The gospel of Jesus Christ gives hope to the poor, alienated, and abused. Love never fails. Love will propel us into the kingdom of God and an abundant life if we walk by faith and not by sight. Amen |