Full-Time Family (Friday Devotional)

 

He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved 

- Ephesians 1:5-6

Since Lindsey and I got married, we’ve never had a family pet. We talked about getting a dog early on, but never pulled the trigger, and by the time kids came—not to mention a house with clean floors and furniture—adding an animal to the Camp family was the furthest thing from our minds. We’ve been happy to get by with nothing but humans up to this point.

But lately it’s seemed like life had other plans for us. Without intending to, we seem to have adopted a part-time pet.

We first met this furry friend a few months ago when the kids and I were out playing in the “dig site,” the front flower bed where the kids have all manner of play trucks, shovels, etc. for when they want to play in the dirt. While I was pulling weeds and the kids were digging, a gray cat ran up from the street and joined us in the dig site. Startled at first, we were quickly put at ease by his friendliness—he liked to rub his back against my leg, he didn’t mind the kids petting him, and he never once showed his teeth or threatened to scratch. The kids even gave him a name: Energy Cat, because “he has so much energy!”

Since then, rare is the day we’re out in the front yard for more than 5 minutes without Energy Cat joining us from across the street. We’ve left water out for him on hot days, he’s come into our backyard while I was reading on the patio, and he’s even followed us into the house twice when we left the front door standing open. Without a doubt, he likes being with us.

But with all that being said, he’s not really our cat. We don’t feed him. He doesn’t sleep at our house. We don’t pay his veterinary bills. In fact, if he got sick, we’d probably never even know about it. As much as we enjoy having Energy Cat around, he’s only a part-time member of the family.

There are those in the family of faith that wouldn’t mind that sort of arrangement with God. They come to him with their needs and their sorrows, they attend worship services when it feels important to do so, they write a check or two to support a good cause. But their relationship with the Lord is tertiary to the concerns of family, work, and friends; they’re not especially concerned with discipleship.

What the Bible makes clear is that when you profess faith in Christ as Lord and Savior, you are not simply joining a club or punching a ticket—you are being adopted into the family of God. In God’s family there are no part-time members, no distant cousins twice removed, only brothers and sisters in faith. And a true understanding of that faith, where you know the depths of your own depravity and the heights of God’s grace, means you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Jesus didn’t halfway die on the cross, he paid it all so that we would be saved. So may your life—your whole life—be a living sacrifice to him. May you not be a part-time member of the family, but instead a child of God.