God Dreams Of a Large Loving Family
God Dreams Of a Large Loving Family
Of Children Formed Into His Image.
In Scripture, God introduces himself as a Father; Jesus is his son, and the church is Jesus’s bride; and amazingly we are also his children. This is family. God loves family, and he dreams of a large loving one. In view of this, we need to ask: “What is God’s concept of a father and his family members?” Jesus clarified his understanding of this in the following conversation:
(Matthew 12:47–50 EMTV) Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” (48) But He answered and said to him that told Him, “Who is My mother? And who are My brothers?” (49) And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold; My mother, and My brothers! (50) For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus is clear that a true family is comprised of those who do the will of one father. Scripture echoes the same idea when it encourages wives and children to submit to the father. (This is obviously a picture of trusting and obeying Father God, so it assumes that a kind, loving, benevolent father is leading the family. It is not a recipe for subservience to a tyrant.) The idea is that the father carries a wholesome vision like God; he is a wise, mature, loving head who has a vision to raise up a new generation in his image. With his wife’s help, he dreams of numerous offspring who love him enough to trust his motivation, take on his values, perceive his vision, and follow in his footsteps.
This explains why Jesus—who came on assignment from Father God to bring numerous offspring to birth—made statements like the following:
(Luke 19:10 EMTV) “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
(Luke 10:39–42 EMTV) And the woman had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’s feet and was listening to His word … And Jesus answered and said to her, “… one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
(John 4:23 EMTV) “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.”
(John 5:19–20 EMTV) Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. (20) For the Father loves the Son, and shows to Him all things which He Himself does; and greater works than these He will show Him, so that you may marvel.”
On assignment from his Father, Jesus’s mission was to seek and save the lost; and then to disciple them into being true worshippers of his Father. His objective was to regenerate them, then shape them into sons and daughters who would sit around Father’s table, listen to his word, help fulfil his dream, and operate in his delegations. Jesus is God’s ideal son—or prototype son. He showed his followers how to be like him—how to be good children for Father God: he showed them worship in spirit and truth; he taught them to imitate and do what they saw and heard with their father. This way, they would be true family members.
Does this describe you? It begins with receiving Jesus’ new birth, then gazing at him in worship, in his word, and in intimate fellowship until you become like what you see. Imitating God’s number one follower, Jesus, is how we become good followers / imitators, made into his image.