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National Siblings Day

By April 12, 2015August 30th, 2022Devotional

Since 1997, April 10th of each year has become the day that the nation celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters. Facebook has been bombarded with pictures and images of families – many of them decades old. And to be sure, several friends of mine from grammar school included pictures of their brothers and sisters back in the days that we went to elementary school together. It was great to see images of my friends from before they were even teenagers! And needless to say, that is the way that I remember them.

I couldn’t help but think about Janet and her two sisters – or my two brothers and me. And then, of course, there are my cousins; and our three children who are the balance of our immediate nuclear family. Unlike Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, Siblings Day is not a federally recognized day – at least not yet. There is a move on to change this, but for now, it doesn’t look like this will come to pass any time soon. A number, of states, however, have issued proclamations recognizing the day on the state level. In any event, is was great to see so many people post pictures of their brothers and sisters.

From the theological position, according to Christ, those who believe in Him are all brothers and sisters. That makes for quite a large family! Admittedly, we don’t treat each other like family, and as evidence of that one need only read the papers about the recent disagreements in Indiana about whether businesses have the right to deny service to people who aren’t in alignment with their own religious beliefs. It seems that no matter how hard people try, we can’t seem to get along.

Rather than go on about this, our verse for the day may do a better job affirming the position of Jesus. He tells is, as recorded in the gospel of Mark 3:35, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Pretty much says it all, right? My encouragement this evening is that Jesus wants us to all get along and hopes that we will treat one another as brothers and sisters – we are all adopted children of God. My prayer is that we will remember the desires of Christ when we consider how we should treat one another. After all, all of us who believe are siblings! Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

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