Psalms 119:63 I am a friend to all who fear you,
to all who follow your precepts.

It is remarkable the level of instant connection that is available between people who mutually fear/love God and seek to be obedient to Him. This is something that non-believers notice and are amazed at. However, it’s a natural outgrowth of the fact that we are all part of the same family, children of one Father. I have completely lost track of how many people have told me their church family is much closer to them than their physical family. As David said, “God sets the lonely in families.” (Psalm 68:6) It is sadly true that church membership isn’t a guarantee of spiritual kinship, because some people are just “paper Christians,” in it for any number of reasons other than genuine repentance and faith. A cloak of piety has been used in many scams, so we unfortunately need to be careful. However, that doesn’t change the fundamental reality of the fellowship we have in Christ. As Bill Gaither wrote, “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God!”

I have experienced this literally all over the world. I remember some years ago attending a conference in Hong Kong and running into a couple of Russians. They got all excited that I could say yes, no, and thank you in Russian, but that was the extent of it, and their English wasn’t much better. However, we knew we were brothers in Christ, and that was wonderful. We currently have a missionary family from Taiwan attending our church twice a month. They’ve been here less than a year and are having a bit of a rough time with their language study, but we still have sweet fellowship with them. (Their 6^th grade son is already doing very well in Japanese.) At the same time, there are American English teachers in town who avoid us like the plague because they are explicitly not Christian, and they don’t want anything to do with us, to the puzzlement of some Japanese. I don’t turn down any divine appointments, and when circumstances bring us into contact with such people I seek to let the love and grace of the Lord flow through me to them, but they are certainly not in the category of family. It comes down to needing to let the Holy Spirit show me who does and who doesn’t fear God and seek to follow Him. If I will be faithful, He will be more than faithful, and I will never lack for family.

Father, thank You indeed for the fellowship that is in Your family. I pray that I would be increasingly effective in drawing even more people in, so that they in turn may draw more, for a massive harvest in Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!