Take Care of Your Spiritual Family

[Take Care of Your Spiritual Family]( Current Teaching Series [The Seven Greatest Words of Love]( [Listen to Today's Broadcast]( [Take Care of Your Spiritual Family]( By Rick Warren — 03/04/2021 [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Email]( “Do not rebuke an older man [in the church] harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” 1 Timothy 5:1-2 (NIV) If you follow Jesus, you can’t just care about your own family. You must also care about God’s family—your spiritual family. Who is your spiritual family? It’s your brothers and sisters in the family of God. Jesus said, “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50 NIV). That means, if you follow Jesus, you and I are related! God’s grace through Jesus Christ bonds us together as family. You’ve heard the old phrase, “Blood is thicker than water.” That’s true! But grace is thicker than genetics. A letter to some of the first Christians says, “Do not rebuke an older man [in the church] harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity” (1 Timothy 5:1-2 NIV).  God wants you to see other people in the body of Christ as your spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. The Bible tells us Jesus had a biological family and grew up with brothers and sisters. In fact, he had four half-brothers and at least two half-sisters—they were Mary and Joseph’s other children. They show up many times in Scripture, watching Jesus do miracles and trying to talk him out of doing certain things. One of Jesus’ half brothers, James, actually wrote the book of James in the Bible. But, as Jesus was dying, he did not entrust the care of his mother to any of his half-brothers or half-sisters. He entrusted her to John, his beloved disciple. Why is that? John 7:5 says that none of Jesus’ siblings had become believers yet. They were among the many people who didn’t recognize Jesus as the Son of God until after the Resurrection. It wasn’t until later in life that James became one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. Jesus entrusted his mom to the care of John because John was already a mature believer. John was his spiritual family, with closer ties through the bonds of grace than even the blood relation to his biological family. God has designed his family of faith to be the same for you. You can have closer bonds with your fellow Christians than you might even have with your own family. And those close bonds should lead you to take particularly good care of your spiritual family. Galatians 6:10 says, “Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith” (NLT). Always do whatever you can to help people in need. But pay special attention to those within your own spiritual family. [PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>]( Talk It Over - What would change about the way you treat and interact with other believers if you considered them part of your family? - Who in your spiritual family needs your help or care right now? What will you do today to take care of them? - If you are not part of God’s family, what keeps you from surrendering your life to Jesus? The post [Take Care of Your Spiritual Family]( appeared first on [Pastor Rick's Daily Hope](. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Email]( [Get the Journey with Jesus Deluxe Book when you give a gift to support Daily Hope]( Imagine tracing the very footsteps of Jesus as he made his way through Jerusalem on his sacrificial journey to Calvary. With Pastor Rick’s book, Journey with Jesus, you don’t have to imagine. Through gorgeous custom mosaic artwork and beautiful photos, you’ll see the story of Jesus come to life like never before. Get deep biblical insight into the most important event in human history as the narrative takes you to each stop on the path Jesus took to save us. This stunning deluxe edition, available only through Daily Hope, features a soft, vegan leather cover, 148 high gloss pages, and makes a perfect gift to help both Christians and seekers step into the greatest love story ever told. [LEARN MORE]( [Complete Audio Series (Purchase)]( Includes 7 full-length messages from Pastor Rick's series The Seven Greatest Words of Love. [LEARN MORE]( [Series Summary]( Message 1: The Word of Forgiveness Message 2: The Word of Assurance Message 3: The Word of Love Message 4: The Word of Substitution Message 5: The Word of Humanity Message 6: The Word of Victory Message 7: The Word of Trust [PLAY TODAY'S BROADCAST]( Pastor Rick Warren [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Linkedin]( Enjoy today's devotional? Listen to Pastor Rick’s daily audio teaching at [PastorRick.com]( Did someone forward this devotional to you? [Subscribe to Pastor Rick Warren's Daily Devotional.]( As the founding pastor of Saddleback Church with his wife Kay, Dr. Rick Warren leads a 30,000-member congregation in California with campuses in major cities around the world. As an author, his book [The Purpose Driven Life]( is one of the best-selling nonfiction books in publishing history. It has been translated into 74 languages and sold more than 50 million copies in all formats. His book [The Purpose Driven Church]( was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the century. Rick also founded [The PEACE Plan]( to address five global issues—spiritual emptiness, self-serving leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy—through the power of ordinary people in the local church. 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