February 15

Day 248: We Have the Family Name

Before Moses cuts the Israelites loose, before he goes to die, he lays out, again, the covenant benefits of loyalty and obedience to God. Conversely, he also lays out the curses that will come with an absence of both.

Chapters 28-29 are, sadly, a prediction; not of how it might go. But how it will go. Moses is, in a fashion, the first prophet to speak directly to their later defeat, captivity and dispersion. (Read the rest of the Old Testament to check my work.)

But, there is a sweet little verse nestled in what Moses has to say. A little verse that says something big. Deuteronomy 28:10 reads, "All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you."

God is calling them family. God is giving them His family name. The other nations will know your family's reputation, and they'll respond with fear. They'll know your family is better than their family.

We were all born into an earthly family. Sometimes we see it as a blessing. Or maybe we see it as a curse. Whatever our experience, we don't get to choose our family. None of us were consulted beforehand, right?

Galatians 2:20 ends with, "...the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Don't miss this. He loved you and me, BEFORE He gave Himself (died in our place) for you and me.

We were and are loved, because God chose to love us. And because He loved and loves us, He called us to be born (again) into His family.

To think otherwise is to reverse the order, and mess it up. Most of us are so inclined to think we have to earn His love, and continue to earn His love, it's almost like the small child who thinks she has to go to work, in order to give her earnings to her parents. While still enrolled in school, where she gets continues to get straight A's.

But that's pretty much what we think and do. Galatians 3:3 asks the question, "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"

That's a Bible way of saying, "Even though your Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit loved you, before you were you, it now requires you to do enough to be loved?"

If we answer that in the affirmative, we're saying we trust the Law, and distrust God's grace. But, our own works are never enough, especially if we also believe God's grace doesn't stick.

Or, and this is a big 'or,' do we do just the opposite? Do we assume we have God's name, and yet we don't have it at all?

Deuteronomy 29:19 says, "Beware...one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, 'I shall be safe; though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.'"

In review,, two errors. One is being told he's been given God's name, adopted into God's family by faith - but doesn't really believe that's all it took.

And the other is believing you are already in God's family, share in the family name, and it requires nothing; no loyalty, no allegiance.

Deuteronomy 28:47 is chilling. It says, "Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of things."

This is like saying, "I like the benefits of my family; I just don't like my family."

Whether we assume we need to continually earn our family standing, or we assume we have standing in the family irrespective of our loyalty and allegiance, we get it all wrong either way.

If you are a Christian, and I assume if you're reading these posts each day it's a likelihood, we can and must be reminded. Reminded to the point of believing this.

We are children of God. We are sons and daughters of the King. He loved us first. Therefore He made the way for that family relationship to happen for us. We cannot earn it. And we cannot ignore it.

We gave us His name. We are clothed in His name. We are covered, even smothered in His name.

And whether our own earthly families are a picture of that or not, we are His. Because He loved us first.

We have the family name.