Light
for the path BY KAREN POY
Camps Administrator, SUNZ
I
remember the night I became a Christian. A visiting evangelist at Youth Group had asked who would like to know more about how to become part of God’s family. I felt my heart beating faster in my chest and I knew I did! That night started a new way of life for me and one that I had no idea would put me on a different path to my family and see me adopted into a new spiritual family, the family of God. I am sure my family assumed Christianity was a phase for me — something else that I would pick up and put down like so many other things I had tried. In fact, when I told my Mum that I had become a Christian she told me that everyone in New Zealand was a Christian! I knew that to grow as a young Christian I would have to spend time with other people at church to learn how to do this because going to church was not something my family did. I have always been very thankful for the leaders we had at Youth Group and Girls Rally, and the wider community at church who invited me into their homes and shared about God over meals and coffees, who helped me learn, who listened to my endless questions and patiently shared God’s Word with me.
Today some of these people are as close to me as my own family. Somewhere along the way, I realised that I had a spiritual family through going to Church: a family that I chose to be part of; a family to do this Christian life with; a family to encourage and be encouraged by; a family who could grow together and serve the Lord together. I am so grateful for my faith family and all that I have inherited through Jesus Christ. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. —Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
REF LECT
Respond to Ephesians 1:5 in prayer, in praise, in gratitude. Give thanks for those who have been your spiritual family. To whom is God calling you to be spiritual family?
FEBRUARY 2020 25
