Dear Christian friends:

God's love and kindness to us is very great and wonderful. It is so great that we can't fully understand it or appreciate it. If we did, we would love Him much more than we do and love one another more. God has a hard time to teach us or show us and impress us with His great love for us. So God uses many ways, and many different ideas and stories.

One idea He uses is the idea of a family. Most of us understand about family love and unity. Father and mother love their children and sacrifice much to help their children grow up to become good and useful citizens and Christians. Parents deny themselves many things to save money and help their children through college.

Mother often gets a job. Sometimes Father works too hard and sacrifices his health. Sometimes a brother or sister will help a younger brother through college. When children make a mistake and go on wrong ways. Mother and Father still love them and pray for them and try to help them see their wrong ways. When the son or daughter is sorry, mother and father are eager to forgive and forget.

If you belong to a good family, you understand what I'm saying. But sometimes members of a family will not have much love for one another. But many families do. So God through St. Paul uses that idea to help us understand about His great love for us. Paul says,


This is true! God is our Father and we are His dear children. In the Lord's prayer Jesus taught us to pray: "Our Father who are in heaven." The Bible says, "We are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Not by nature. By nature we were children of sin, children of the devil. Jesus told the Jews who did not believe in Him: "Your father is the devil and you lie and do his works." We are the same by nature, we lie, steal, cheat, are selfish, greedy, proud, jealous, quarrel, hate, fight, kill, and make war.

We must be born again. Jesus told Nicodemus, "You must be born again of water and the Spirit." When by God's Word and Baptism we hear Jesus dying on the cross for our sins the Holy Spirit comes to our hearts, and makes us believe in Jesus for forgiveness. The Holy Spirit by God's Word of Jesus helps us to love God our Father and trust Him for food and clothes and thank Him and serve Him as His dear children.

Not only that, the Holy Spirit helps us to love all of God's children our brothers and sisters in faith. Paul says here in verses 1 and 2, "I urge you to live as God's children should live. Be humble and gentle in every way, be patient and lovingly bear with one another."

God's children should not live like the devil's children: quarreling, jealous, greedy, and proud. Often we forget that we are God's children and live like the devils children. Don't think about one another; don't help one another.

You know about Boy's Town in Nebraska. Father Flanagan used a very touching picture to raise money for Boy's Town. A picture of one boy carrying another boy on his back. The boy says, "He ain't heavy, Father he's my brother."

So, you and I, if we remember that we Christians are all God's children and that we are all brothers and sisters in Jesus that will help us to love one another and live and do as God's children should do.

Paul says, "Do your best to keep the unity of the Spirit by living together in peace: you are one body and one Spirit and God has called you to share the same hope, same faith, same baptism, same God and Father of all who rules over us all, works through us all, and lives in us all.

Often we think we are better than others in the Church. We think God loves us more than others. That's not true. God loves us all the same. Same hope, same Lord, same faith, same baptism, same Lord's Supper, same God and Father of all. Rules us all not only you. So don't think you are better than others. You are not! If anyone is great praise God. His gift of love made us what we are.

Paul was a great preacher, but he didn't think himself better than others. He said, "I am chief sinner. God's gift of love made me what I am now." So he was a good brother in the church. For Jesus' sake and other brothers he went to prison. He loved God and the Christian brothers He suffered prison and finally death for us. Paul was our good big brother. He urges us to live like God's children. He has a right to do it.

May God help us all to be good brothers and sisters in His family.

Amen.