“’Who are my mother and my brothers?’ he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Mark 3:33-35, NIV)
Some people are brothers and sisters by birth. Some people are brothers and sisters by law. Jesus says that it is obedience to the will of God that makes us His brothers and sisters.
The beauty of the family of God is that it is at once inclusive — as in everyone can be a member; but that it is only by our choice to be obedient to the will of God that we may become His sons and daughters.
Whether in the evaluation of success, failure, or the estimation of people; resist the temptation to measure the things of God and the gifts of heaven with the same “yardstick” we use to measure common things. – Luther
