Genesis 1:24-31
All God's Children

And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

       So God created man in his own image,
       in the image of God he created him;
       male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day.

New International Version

I have often confused myself on the matter of the "family of God". This happens when I take metaphors literally and when I apply them carelessly. My mindset is to think mostly of my "brothers and sisters in Christ", those who have accepted forgiveness and eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. I think too much of "us" and "them", with "us" being those who believe as I do that they have repented and received God's Grace.

In contrast, there is a "one world" mindset that rejects the existence of God and talks about the "family" of all humanity. Their goals appear worthy: that all of us on the planet take responsibility for each other irrespective of political boundaries, that we share the resources of the planet in sustainable ways, and that we live together in harmony. However, this mindset rejects organized religion because of the hatred, division, and irresponsible actions taken by those whose evil actions resulted from their beliefs, so they reject God.

I cannot accept a "family of all humanity" mindset that denies the existence of God. At the same time, I cannot forget that my "brothers and sisters" include those who appear to me to have rejected belief in God. We are all God's children.

The creation story in Genesis chapter one makes our oneness clear. Of all creation, only people were formed to be in the "image" of God, characteristics that make each of us like God and like each other. Only people were appointed to be the caretakers of the "family heirloom" that God created, and every one of us still share that responsibility. Our heritage, our lineage, our belonging to God's family is foundational to our existence and overrides any differences in geography, appearance, language--or religious belief.

Because of Christ, we have a vibrant "family life" among those of us who have been radically changed by Grace. We enjoy each other's company because we radiate the agape love that God is growing in our lives. We lift each other up in prayer and we know the tangible acts of God's love shown by the actions of our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is easy to catch a glimpse of how God intended us to live as we experience God's Love inside a healthy church fellowship!

But our family is broader than those who choose to worship with us. Our family goes beyond the walls of our local church building, beyond the rosters of those in our denomination, beyond those that claim Jesus as Savior or Yahweh as Creator. Some of our brothers and sisters disagree with the Truth we hold dear and reject our beliefs as naive mythology. Some of our brothers and sisters hate us for a myriad of reasons. We are blood relatives to individuals who have perpetrated the most heinous crimes against humanity. We are all one family.

This topic must move out of the realm of philosophy and into daily action for us to respond in the way Jesus taught us to live. It takes only a cerebral effort to consider Kim Jong Il of North Korea as a child of God. We must change our habits to remember that the rude driver behind us also is a child of God, as is the slow person ahead of us at the checkout line, the confused cashier at the fast food restaurant, the neighbor playing loud music, and the owner of the car whose bumper stickers promote causes opposite to our way of thinking. We are all one family, and God expects those of us who have experienced Grace to act like it.

To do so, we cannot afford to love those who are Christians more than we love those who are not Christians--or who we think might not be Christians. Repeatedly, Jesus taught parables that emphasized that Love is for all people. When Jesus wanted to illustrate what it meant to "love your neighbor", he used a Samaritan as his example in Luke 10:25. He taught that the weeds would be separated from the sabotaged wheat field only after the harvest in Matthew 13:24. He compared religious leaders to whitewashed tombs in Matthew 23:27 to emphasize that outward appearances are irrelevant. He rejected every mark of status and worth of his day as he told the story of God welcoming a poor beggar into heaven in Luke 16:19. We are not two families, the believers and the unbelievers, but one family, made in God's image.

The temptation to justify ourselves in comparison to others goes back to the Garden of Eden when Adam claimed that Eve's sin was worse. It sparked the first murder when Cain compared the smoke from Abel's sacrifice to his own. It was institutionalized by the time the Pharisee in Jesus' story prayed a prayer of thanks that he "was not like other men" in Luke 18:11. But God does not call us to divide our family, but to love all our brothers and sisters just as God loves each one of us.