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As we sit around the table on Thanksgiving day, we look around and see who God has placed around us as family. We give Him thanks for the delicious food, for our peace, for our security, and for many blessings too numerous to name. We thank God for our family.

All believers are a family forged in the fires of God’s love. All believers belong in God’s household with every other Christian. We are to be devoted to each other like a loving family.

Church is not a building where we go to attend worship services. Church is a body of believers. We belong to our church, not to the building, but to the people who are our fellow parishioners. We’re more than an institution, more than an organization, even more than a body of like-minded individuals. We are family.

As we learn to love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, we begin to trust one another, accept one another, and serve one another. We learn the power of unconditional love, among children as well as adults.

Our body of Christians are meant to be a Holy Spirit-led workshop for learning to love one another deeply and earnestly. (1Thessalonians 4:9). We love because God first loved us.

Family is synonymous with a deep, unwavering commitment to support one another. It takes courage to love others this earnestly. But that’s Jesus’ command: Love one another, as I have loved you. If He brings us to a challenge, He’ll bring us through it to completion. This displays another ‘Thanks’ opportunity.

Our journey will teach us the honesty, vulnerability, effort and forgiveness it takes to keep these family bonds vibrant and healthy.

Take Home Nugget

Godly character is caught rather than taught. In a Christian community, we’ll get a front-row seat in witnessing these traits in others. Look where you see maturity modeled, so that you can learn, or catch these same traits. This helps us measure our values and align them with the standards already set.

The Bible tells us in Isaiah 38:19 that one generation shows faithfulness to the next.

We thank you, God, for many things
Every day in so many ways,
Not the least is what love brings
To family all through our days.