“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6 (New Living Translation)
For many years prior to leaving the ministry I would quote the above verse as the reason why I could not believe that those who were members of other faith groups could be accepted as part of “God’s family”. But as the years passed, I was having more and more trouble clinging to this belief.
For one thing, I came to see that my faith group had basically reduced membership into our group as a true/false test administered under the guise of getting people to recite, paraphrase, or affirm certain things. The gist of it boils down to this: I am a sinner, I cannot save myself, I ask Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior. I believe that He is God incarnate (in human form), that He was born of the Virgin Mary, that He was crucified and died on the cross for my sins, that he was raised from the dead three days later and now sits at the right hand of God.
What if the family of God is far bigger than I have been led to believe in my Christian upbringing?
Anyone who would affirm all of this was “saved” and anyone who would not was “lost”.
But what if Jesus was simply saying, “Anybody who will follow My example will be living in a way that will affirm love and make life better for themselves and those around them.”?
Another thought arose in my mind around this idea of how we became part of God’s family. As I understood my tradition, we would affirm that all life came about by the will of God. No one was alive unless God willed it to be so. The thought that came to the forefront of my mind was that if this was so, did that not, in effect, make God everyone’s parent?
I have three children. I am their father. This fact was never dependent upon them recognizing or asking me to be their father. I am. Whether they accept me as such or not does not change my fatherhood of or love for them. Their willingness or unwillingness to do what I want them to do does not change these things either. They are my children and I want what is best for them. Period.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:11 that if we as earthly fathers can do good things for our children then God is capable of doing much more. What if the family of God is far bigger than I have been led to believe in my Christian upbringing? What if God is truly creator and, therefore, Father (Parent) of all? What are the implications for me in the way I interact with all those around me?
Think about it.
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