Sunday, July 23, 2023

Theme:

When we live in faith in Christ, we are adopted into God’s family, and we become God’s children and our spirits become one with Christ. Because we are one family, we have hope in our life in both joy and suffering.

Reflections:

One of the greatest forms of love is the love between a parent and a child. But there is one other type of love that may be greater and that is the love between a parent and an adopted child. In this relationship, a parent chooses a child and gives that child new life in the form of unconditional love. Paul uses the metaphor of adoption to compare our life to God. Is it God who chooses us first and through Christ, God has exposed God’s unconditional love for us. And when we accept this unconditional love, we become part of God’s family, we are God’s children, and our spirits become one. We become one family in both heaven and earth. And because of all of this we are given hope.

This relationship with God is two pronged – one that looks inward at our lives and one that looks outward into the world. As God’s family, we are given hope which allows us to sustain and triumph during difficult times. Because we are one family, we are heirs to God’s promises which always points us to a better day. We experience pain and loss, but we can move past pain and loss because of God’s unconditional love for us. And because of this unconditional love, we are called to share that love with the world, so our adopted family grows. It is in sharing that love that we give hope to others.

Questions:

1.   When we call each other brother and sister, what are we implying?

2.   When you accept that you are a child of God and part of something bigger than yourself, how do you feel?

3.   How does being a member of God’s family give you hope?

4.   How can you share this gift of hope with others?