Ephesians 5:31-32, "As the Scriptures say, ‘A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.' This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one."

Think

Throughout the Bible, God tells us to, "Picture a father and son, a wife and husband, or a brother and sister." God uses family relationships as a universal way to provide pictures that teach crucial truths to humanity. So, He begins with what we know, then uses that knowledge as a bridge to what we don't know. Want to know who God is? Picture God as God the Father and God the Son. Want to know how much God loves us? Picture a husband laying down his life for his wife in sacrificial love. Want to know the gospel? Picture a parent adopting a child and accepting them as part of the family. Want to understand the church? Picture brothers and sisters, church members, encouraging one another through life's ups and downs. Here's what we need to see. God has given us family as a way to picture other things, as a way to understand other realities. The more our families look like God's design, the clearer those pictures become, the closer we will be to understanding God's eternal truths. The family, your family, matters!

Act

Reflect on how your family is a picture of God's truth.

Pray

Dear God, Thank you for portraying biblical truths in a way that I can understand. Help my family to be a picture that paints a genuine portrait of who You are to the world around me. In Jesus' name, Amen.