“For through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.” – Galatians 3:26

This week I have been at a family reunion for the children of my grandpa and grandma on my mom’s side. When this group gets together, I am always amazed at the great variety. We are all different shapes and sizes, different generations, different personalities, different talents, different hobbies, and even completely different political views. And yet, with all those differences, we spend a whole week together and we have a great time. That is because, despite all our differences, we are family. Some of us were born into the family, some were brought in by marriage, and some are adopted. But the truth is, we belong to an amazing grandfather and grandmother. That fact creates a love and a sense of belonging that is much bigger than all the other differences.

As I looked around, I thought to myself, “the Church in America could sure learn a lot from this family.” As American Christians, we often focus much more on our differences than we do on our Father. I am not saying that we should, in any way, compromise the Truth in order to be “inclusive.” But I truly believe that if we could learn to be wholly centered on God and his Word, many of our perceived differences would fade into the background. And if the Church in American could learn to cooperate in the mission of bringing Jesus Christ to a dark and dying world, there would be incredible revival in our land!

Heavenly Father, as Your children, keep our eyes fixed on You. Give us a passion to pursue You and share Your Good News. Let the truth of our adoption into Your family be what binds us together into One Church with One Mission.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Shane Cannon