This kid in our neighborhood, out of nowhere, informed me that he is a legal member of our family.
Bizarre! I guess he has spent quite a bit of time reading all my Facebook posts, so it appears he knows quite a bit about us, but I tried to explain to him that knowing a lot about us, and being a part of this family, are two entirely different things. He wasn’t convinced. I think he might be a bit mental, if you ask me.
To prove he is a member of our family, he started telling me about things I’ve written, but he took many of those things completely out of context, and several things, he clearly mistook what I even said. We’ve got some pretty specific traditions that we observe in this family, and some people think they’re kind of weird. So, to demonstrate to this kid that he really doesn’t know that much about us, I invited him to participate in those traditions with us.
Go figure, he said he had his own traditions, and that he didn’t need ours to be a part of our family. In fact, he still tells me that, while our traditions might have meant something a long time ago, they are not relevant today, and they really don’t mean anything—that his traditions are the ones that are meaningful to him, and that’s really all that matters.
How could someone ever think this kid is actually a legal member of our family? There has been no legal decree declaring such a thing—it is just something he decided himself, and I guess it’s because he read my posts and liked them. But, even apart from the whole legal issue, when it comes to the things that really identify us as a family—our traditions—he wants no part in those.
I heard that he’s been convincing a bunch of other kids in the neighborhood that he’s part of our family, and he’s even been inviting some of them to be a part of our family too—so, he’s got them reading my Facebook posts every day, and telling them that all they have to do is learn who I am through what I’ve written online, and then state that they are members of this family.
He has even told them not to worry about our family traditions, for he has some that he thinks are much better, and that his traditions are what will show they are members of my family.
Hmmmm . . .
Those who have been made children of Yah have been adopted by a legal decree.
Nobody is a member of His family just by deciding to be, or by self-declaration. Nobody is a member of His family simply because they “accept Christ into their hearts,” or any other christianese euphemism.
Only those who are TOLD by Him that they are His children have any claim to being in His family.
The Father gave His Sabbaths as a sign between Him and His children—they are like a coat of arms that identifies His family members. Most members of a family gladly choose to identify with their family by participating in its traditions.
His family sign is not given to christians, who, like this neighborhood kid, have their own family traditions. No, His traditions apply only to His children. Most christians claim His traditions are irrelevant, or they were abolished, or that they don’t matter—but, they simply are not aware of what it actually means to be a part of Yah’s family.
And, that’s because they are part of a counterfeit of His family.
For more information: Messiah’s Bride Is Not the “Church”