FAMILY MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
Family Makes the Difference

There was a farmhand who had worked for a married couple for several years. Eventually, the couple grew older and older and couldn't do as much they had in the past. Now the farm was beginning to look a little shabby. The paint on the barn was peeling. The fences had holes in them and the slats were loose. The gravel road had potholes in it. Shingles on top of the farmhouse were beaten and weathered and needed replacing. But as the farmhand made his way to milk the cows each day, he thought: “What is that to me? It's not my farm.”

One day the farmer and his wife invited the hand to dinner. They told him how much he had meant to them over the years. They had no children to inherit the farm, so they wanted to leave it to him when they died.

The next day, the farmhand was walking to the nursing barn, he noticed the paint on the barn. In a few days he'd painted the barn and repaired the fence. Soon after, he put a new roof on the farmhouse and added new gravel to the road.

Why would he do that? What made the difference in his attitude? He was now an heir. As a Son, he began to treat the old farm differently than he ever had.

The same is true of the Christ follower. We are heirs to the Kingdom of God and because we are heirs, we have the joy of knowing that what we do, we do because of the fabulous gift of salvation our Father has given us.

It is amazing that we get to be Gods family through Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that we are God’s kids, his sons and daughters. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings that transition to us. It’s a whole new way of living for Christ when we are family.

This Sunday we will continue our series of messages titled, LIFE IN THE SPIRIT When God Moves in to Stay. The sermon title is Children of God based on Romans 8:14-17. Join us for this beautiful experience.

Your sibling in Christ,
Jon