Family Resemblance
Today’s Verse:
For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. ~Mark 3:35
In Mark 3, we see much criticism and scorn being made against the Lord Jesus in the early days of His ministry. Some of His friends thought He was out of His mind (vs.21). The scribes disparaged Him by telling people He was demon-possessed. The rumors and innuendos got to be so bad that His mother and siblings came out to see Him in the hopes of finding out if what they heard was true, and to convince Jesus to conduct His ministry so that people would be accepting of Him. The frankness of the matter was that Jesus was doing ministry to the glory of God, and not for the approval of man. It was at that moment when He was told His immediate family were waiting to see Him that He exclaimed an important statement as to the will of God and the kind of people who honor God.
We see the CONCEPT concerning the will of God.
The will of God is God’s best for your life. The will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect. It is God’s perfect plan for every life. It is when we are in the will of God and doing it that we find ourselves at our most maximum performance. Doing the will of God is absolutely essential for our sanctification and holiness. When we are doing the will of God, we have made a declaration that we are not going to be like the world, but we have committed ourselves to being renewed in our minds to be more like the Lord. You might say the will of God for us is being at the right place at the right time, and doing the right things.
We see the COMPLIANCE concerning the will of God.
The will of God is our reasonable service. It is the minimum expected of us considering the great sacrifice in which Jesus suffered and died for our salvation. The will of God explicitly demands our obedience. When we are doing the will of God, our spirit will be, “Not my will, Lord, but thine be done.” Our daily prayer will be, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath Day defied the tradition of the religious hypocrites. However, it was doing the will of God. Going out of His way to serve the needy multitudes by healing them, even if was taxing on His strength, was doing the will of God. Taking care of ministry even to where He did not have a chance to sit down and eat a meal was doing the will of God. We have compartmentalized the will of God into what fits us instead of realizing we must fit the will of God.
We see a CLOSENESS concerning the will of God.
“For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.” Jesus was saying there is substantial spiritual identification of a Christian who is doing the will of God with Christ. He was saying, “Do you want to know who the people are that resemble me the most? Those believers who are doing the will of God!” The critics of Jesus made it very clear that they had no connection with Him. Beloved, we show the closeness of our relationship with the Lord when we are doing the will of God.
We see a CONTENTMENT concerning the will of God.
The will of God is good, perfect, and acceptable. It is God’s custom-designed plan of action for the Christian. In Ps. 37:23, we read, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way.” There is peace, satisfaction, and ultimate contentment when we are doing the will of God. This doesn’t mean you won’t be misunderstood, criticized, or said to be whacked out. However, it does demonstrate that our purpose and priority is pleasing God and not ourselves.
How closely do you show a family resemblance?
Have a will-of-God God morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Genesis 35-37
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