Written by Ken

For those who are still wondering what this blog is all about, it can perhaps be summed up in one word, “Family.” There is nothing more important than family when it comes to our lives and relationships, especially our relationship with God. Not only is God going about His business of creating a family of God who will love, serve, and glorify Him for an eternity, but God is using this life for our childhood as He grows us up into Christ Jesus. God, by His grace, births us into the family of God in the here and now.

Family… The basic unit of society whereby most of our best moments and dreams are realized. Nothing provides a mother or father with more joy than holding their newborn baby and dreaming of the hopes that are wrapped up in that tiny little gift from God. Then watching them learn to crawl, walk, run and become a mature person in Christ.

Family… the ones who have your back and are there for you in times of trouble. If you need help, or an ear to listen, or just someone to be with. Best friends are great, but family has an uncanny connection knowing that you can count on them to be there for you, and that you’re in their daily thoughts and prayers.

Family… The gift that keeps giving when the grandbabies arrive. Not only in the joy you feel as your children hold a child of their own, but knowing now that the love and wisdom you invested in your children are going to be passed along to the next generation. At least for us it seems that our grandbabies give us as much joy as having our own children.

If we boiled down God’s purpose here on earth to just one word it would be … family. From the beginning of the scriptures to the end, there is one theme that holds the His-Story of God’s Word together and it is family. Imagine that you are God-filled with so much goodness and wanting to share it with your children. So much love, joy, and peace to offer others, yet there was no one suitable to invest all of those wonderous things into except for your Son, your only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus.

“So, what is the plan, Dad?”

“The plan is to build a family who we can love and serve and who will be filled with joy as they fill us up with joy. But to do so will not be easy, because for love to exist, it must be tested. Love without commitment and tested by hardship is not love at all. True love requires a choice and that choice is to be refined by fire so there is no doubt… only trust and faith between the love and beloved.”

“The plan is that I am going to make a wonderful creature made in our image, in the image of God He shall be made. Male and female, I will make them with the gift of life itself built into their very being. So that just as we experience the joy of love in family, they too will see what it is like to be the creator of their own families, and be responsible for directing their own children to become a part of our family, the Family of God.”

“With the first test we will give mankind a simple choice. We will walk with them and talk with them and show them that all we have created is given to them as a gift to rule over and enjoy. But to confirm their love and trust in us, their Creator, we will ask that they simply not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For to eat of it will open their eyes to evil and they will surely die.”

“The second test is to allow mankind to be fruitful and multiply even in sin. To choose their own way, good or bad, right or wrong. Just as the first man and woman had a choice to trust and obey, so too all mankind will have that same choice until mankind reeks so badly of disgusting sins that we will need to start again after a great judgment of a flood. Then from one family, we will start again.”

“The third test is when we choose one man, Abraham, shall be His name from which we will build the family of God like the sands of the sea shores. In Abraham shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, and out of His loins will come One who saves mankind from their sins.”

“And who Father will that Savior be?

“That, my Son, is you. You will become the Lamb of God who saves our disobedient children from their sins and restores all things in you. We, my Son, will experience life at its greatest and at its lowest points, for you shall become Man and dwell among them. It is in you that we will display how great a love we have for the created and by your death on the cross, no man can say that we did not love them dearly.”

“So, all of mankind will be saved?”

“Yes, all mankind will be saved. But to receive such a great salvation and become part of the family of God, one simply must accept the gift we offer by grace through faith. True love is a choice and cannot be forced, so salvation is offered to all, but only those who choose a life with Us will be saved, and live with us forever as our Family.”

“So, faith is another test?”

“No, faith is no test. There is no work that can prove one’s love. Nothing proves out love except to trust another completely. Faith is, or is not. It cannot be manufactured or created. It is a simple choice to believe Us; that God their Creator loves them and wants a relationship with them. If they will but believe what we have done for them and grab ahold of the promises we make to them, we will do the rest.

“We will take them and make them brand new. We will cut out their hearts and place our heart within them by placing them into you, my Son. When I see them, I will see you and your mighty work of obedience unto faith on the cross. You will be given their record of sins upon sins on your body as you die, and they who believe on you and call upon your name shall be saved and receive your record of righteousness.”

“But what if they keep sinning after they have been saved?”

“Sin shall not separate us from our adopted children. Once they are part of our family, we will love them so deeply and show them our immense grace that not a one that I give you will fall away. But many will be deceived thinking that they are part of our family but are not. For just as true faith takes you to the cross, so too true faith will demand obedience to your Lordship. After all, if you are not Lord of all, you cannot save, can you? Placing one’s faith into Christ Jesus simply means recognizing you for who you are, very God, very Lord, Creator of all. Anything short of acknowledging your Lordship will be a belief in something other than in God.”

“So, in this Family of God all will be like Me?”

“Yes, in time, and yet while still in the flesh, we will help them prove out their salvation and to learn and grow up to become more and more like you each day. We will be Father to them as we will unite them with our Spirit to lead them and guide them, not expecting a perfection of their own, but rather to be perfect in You. We will not be looking for their works to grow, but for their faith, trust, and love to grow, and with these things will come fruitful works of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, and most of all faith.”

“All this to create a Family of God?”

“Yes, because in family comes all the very best things of life. Husband and wife filled with our Spirit empowered to live their best life now with an eye to eternity. Husband as leader, yet under our authority and filled with our goodness, and wife as flesh of His flesh being a terrific helpmeet who is obedient to her calling, trusting Us, and in turn her husband as they build a family of their own.

“And I will be their God and they will be My people.”

“When our great task is done, we will take our family from the earth and utterly destroy it by fire along with all who made the choice not to love and trust Us. For in our family can only be those who desire to be our children. What joy we will have together when I create a New Earth wherein there shall be no more sins or sorrows. Just you and me and our many children loving on each other and caring for each other, just as we desire our Church and Christian family units will do together.

“You see Son, it is all about Family.”

“We want mankind to experience family in a true sense on earth so that they can learn to love unconditionally. Yet the world will sow discord and try to destroy the family with many awful things. But through it all, a true and faithful family of God will be born with those who have been tried and tested and found worthy by faith to become heirs of all things. All that we have to offer we will share with our beloved for eternity. Nothing is more important than family to fulfill the purposes of God here on earth.”

If you understand God’s purpose for creating the family of God, you can then enter into it by raising your own family well. Having many children and raising them in the Lord become a priority, knowing that there is little that one can do in life that is more important than the first commandment to “Be fruitful and multiply.” Not just multiply to create flesh and blood, but to multiply and place your precious children into the family of God, forever. A place where you and God enjoy them for eternity, all because of your faithfulness, taught to you by His faithfulness.

My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Ezekiel 37:27