God's Family
The bible tells us that we are not the result of some random evolution:
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. -- Genesis 1:27 (ESV)
Why?
To the faithful in Christ Jesus... Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that
- we should be holy and blameless before Him.
- In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,
- to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.
-- Ephesians 1:1,3-6 (ESV)
God could have made robots who were programmed to infinitely praise Him or sing hymns, but what honour is in that? Instead, He created us in his own image to have a free will of choice so that we can decide (Josua 24:15; Proverbs 3:31), for example:
- to trust God (Psalm 37:5-6) or something else
- to obey God (Matthew 7:18-27; John 3:33-36) or rebel against Him
- to praise God (Psalm 145:3; Psalm 150:6; Hebrews 13:15) or to blaspheme Him
- to worship and serve God (Psalm 29:2; Luke 4:8; John 4:24) or an idol
- to love God (Hosea 6:6) or reject Him
When we choose to be "faithful in Christ Jesus" we honour God. God won't force anyone to be His child.
Our Father
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.-- Psalm 103:8-13 (ESV)
and
Sing to God! Make music to His name!
Exalt Him who rides on the clouds, by saying"Yah is his name!"
Yes, rejoice in his presence!
A father of orphans and a judge of widows is God in His holy habitation.
God causes the lonely to live in a household.
He brings out the prisoners into the prosperous land,
Surely the stubborn live in a sun-scorched land.-- Psalm 68:4-6 (REV)
Jesus taught:
And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, Who is in heaven. -- Matthew 23:9 (ESV)
Paul wrote:
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God...
Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. -- Ephesians 5:1-2,8-10 (ESV)
Our Father's Spirit
The Father's Spirit allows us to access Him while we are on Earth.
For through him (Christ Jesus) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. -- Ephesians 2:14-22 (ESV)
Our Brother
But he (Jesus) replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
-- Matthew 12:48-50
Another example:
And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ -- Matthew 25:40 (ESV)
Paul taught:
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. -- Romans 8:29 (ESV)
Jesus also said that he loves us:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -- John 13:34-35 (NKJV)
“As the Father loved me, I also have loved you; abide in my love.” -- John 15:9 (NKJV)
Likewise, Jesus expect us to love him back by keeping his commandments:
“If you love me, keep my commandments... I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
...
He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. John 14:21
-- John 14:15,18,21 (NKJV)
Our Friend
You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you. -- John 15:14-15 (NKJV)
Our Human Families
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. -- Ephesians 5:1 (ESV)
This is good news for those who lost their earthly families:
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. -- Mark 10:29-30 (ESV)
Just as the Father loved Jesus, and Jesus has loved us, we ought to love our adopted human family members also:
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in my love.
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
-- John 15:9-12 (NKJV)