4/29/26- The Family of God

Hey there! I wanted to share something that touched my heart today while I was out working. As some of you may know, I started working as a landscaper last summer, and as a result I have a HUGE amount of time to myself. I am generally pretty self-managed at work, mostly making my own schedule and handling a lot of the day-to-day details, checking in with my boss for bigger issues or projects. There’s a lot of freedom in my job, and one of those freedoms is the ability to listen to podcasts, music, and audiobooks all day. Honestly, sometimes it might be too much freedom; I’ve found some pretty weird rabbit holes to dive down while riding around on my mower or pulling weeds out of a flower bed. I have also, however, found some beautiful books, songs, and sermons in the last several months, one of which I was listening to this afternoon. Have you ever heard of Paul Washer? He’s a reformed Baptist who has authored a number of books and given lots of stirring teachings on what it means to really follow Christ. Today I was listening to his book Gospel Assurance and Warnings (I’m on chapter eight, now) and in the sixth chapter he discusses what it looks like to imitate Christ. He starts by referencing 1 John 2: “4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (4-6) On the face of it, he expresses, this is terrible news: nobody keeps Gods commandments perfectly! 

BUT, he shares an analogy in this chapter that nearly brought me to tears to listen to; he compares Christ to an older brother, and us to a much younger brother, one who looks up to and desperately wants to imitate his elder sibling. He describes this older brother walking through snow, and how by seeing His long, strong, even stride in the snow His strength and capability are made evident. Meanwhile, as we, the younger brother, try to imitate Him, we find that our stride can barely match His, even with our fullest efforts. Now, you may think to yourself, “tears, really?” But this analogy struck me the way it did because I happen to be very aware of a lot of my shortcomings as a follower of Christ- and I’m sure there’s plenty still that I’m just ignorant of or quietly unwilling to address, unfortunately. Still, it made me think of Romans 8, specifically verses 29 and 30: “29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” (Paul Washer also references these verses in the chapter.) The word brethren struck me. I don’t often think of Christ as a brother- it’s not that I think He isn’t, it’s just that I don’t actively think of Him in association with that word- but here it is used, and it is incredible. He’s the firstborn, and we’re all just trying to imitate Him. The analogy made me think of myself and my own younger brother, Earl, and how bad of a brother I was to him over the years. All brothers fight, true, but that doesn’t mean every fight is good or healthy, and I can think of a number off the top of my head that, looking back, I would undo if I could. There were many times I should have stood up for him but didn’t; times I should have been compassionate, but wasn’t; times I should have listened, but tuned him out; times I led him astray, when it was my responsibility to be an example of a godly young man. Yeshua isn’t and wasn’t like that, though, not at all; He was and is the perfect older brother, and through His love for us we have been called to be a part of His family. I realize that this is all pretty basic theology, but like I said, the way it was expressed struck me; it is such a great privilege to be adopted into the family of God, and I think it is all too easy to lose our hold on how huge of a deal that is. 

(Also, as a side note, I may be just the littlest bit jealous that Paul Washer expressed all of that so succinctly in a quick analogy; I’ve spent pages and pages over the last couple of months trying to express more or less that exact thing, and he did it in a few sentences!)

Being adopted into the family of God- the thought and reality of that statement just makes my heart so glad. It’s weighty; there’s a sad humility in knowing that, on some level, we’ll always be the clumsy younger brother that just can’t get it quite right. It’s embarrassing. Yet, there’s such joy in knowing Yeshua/Jesus, our older brother, is so very compassionate towards us and so perfectly reflects the love of the Father that He lives to intercede on our behalf. (Hebrews 7:25)

I can, at times, be pretty quick to speak on the wrath of God and the severity of His judgements- and I think it is appropriate to do so- but gosh, the other side of that is so overwhelmingly incredible that it takes my breath away. I have sinned and stumbled and failed in some fantastically stupid and awful ways in my short life, and it makes me sad to think of how I have offended and disrespected God in all of those ways, but I am so, so grateful to be called one of His children in spite of all of that.

Thanks for taking the time to read this; I know it wasn’t super deep or organized, but I appreciate you for your time and hope that this was able to provide you with some encouragement as well. I tend to struggle with the issue of assurance- though I am much better than I used to be- and this chapter today was very reassuring to me. If you’re at all interested in checking it out, Gospel Assurance and Warnings is available on Spotify to listen to, and can be purchased at this link: https://heritagebooks.org/products/gospel-assurance-and-warnings-recovering-the-gospel-washer.html. For me, it has been great for my confidence and has also provoked me to be intentional about examining myself daily. Anyway; take care! I hope you have a pleasant and blessed rest of your night!