Jesus replied to the one who told him His mother and His brothers were outside:
"Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,
"Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother."
(Matthew 12:46-50)
Dear Friends –
It almost sounds like Jesus is disowning His earthly family in those words, and yes, He is… but not insultingly so, as a first impression might give of His remark. We know Mary was chosen by God to be Christ’s mother, and how she had responded immediately to that request by the angel to do the will of God, so there can be no confusion as to her loyalty. What Jesus is emphasizing here is that it is not our earthly family that should take precedence in our existence, but rather it is our kinship with Jesus that comes first by associating with God’s children 
that do His Will, just as we must be inclined to do even at the expense of losing family position. It is not unusual for a Christian family to have a “bad seed” or “black sheep” member that goes against the Will of God constantly; some would even say they wouldn’t choose a family member to be their best friend, so contentious can be the opposing philosophies under one roof. Our best friends are, like choosing like, mostly in thought and deeds with conflicts arising when differences of opinion occur. Non-Christian friends can talk each other into doing immoral acts against God’s creeds because they have no respect for His laws. Christian friends however, can help reinforce each other with strength to stay on the straight and narrow path, especially when a fork in the road comes along to go towards vice and away from virtue. Doing God’s Will can be very difficult at times for a variety of reasons, so we need, and must have for success, “family” around for guidance and support, and it’s best when that family or friends are kin related to God and not spawn of the devil.
Church membership is a good place to start building a Christian family for you will find suitable like-minded individuals there at church functions that you can establish 
social relationships with which everyone needs. A familiarity with that congregation will also have you spotting those Christian brothers and sisters in your local business people, clubs, organizations, neighbors, PTA, or even community activists and consequently, trustworthiness in their likeness becomes apparent. When you get involved with church ministry and deal with people at all different levels of belief, your own faith will grow by exchanging it with others… and by that exchange in each other's personal lives, a bond of spiritual kinship occurs that is like no other sincere relationship possible… a Christian friend is God at your side.
Jesus is your big brother; at the same time that His
image is maturing in you, so is it doing just that in your Christian friend. That spiritual maturation must take precedence over any natural predilections because only a holy spirit existing in your being will bring success to your earthly endeavors while making you an heir to all that God mandates for His children. No earthly accomplishment will open the gates of Heaven for you, it is only your spiritual efforts doing God’s Will alongside His kinship that earns an eternal place for you in the family’s heavenly home. Christ demands your allegiance over all other distractions in life… nothing is more important than Almighty God… let His Will guide you to your best life possible, forever and ever.
THE NATURAL SHOWS THE SUPERNATURAL
Life began in a garden… a paradise of God’s design… containing all that the human race would need for a beautiful and comfortable existence. The perfection of this majestic masterpiece unfolds before our eyes the complexity of an Almighty God’s love and devotion for the creation He brought forth. The natural landscape was sufficient to self… a perpetual operation to be enjoyed and cared for by His greatest effort, human beings. While the physical occupants would reproduce and continue on just as all material creation was programmed to do, only the humans were given the additional mode of existence that inculcated a spiritual component bringing individual diversity… a spiritual uniqueness conferred by a natural fingerprint like no other to indicate that such a unique occurrence transpires each time a baby is born. Diversity in the natural is complimented by a free will that affords human beings the opportunity to do as they please, particularly, to choose to follow God’s creeds or not, and life is full of examples of those who do follow His Commandments and for those who definitely do not. 
In nature we see displayed all sorts of grotesque imagery distorted from its blessed creation by the elements, and just so in the human spirit do we see the beauty and innocence of birth maturing away from virtue and into the various ugly degrees of vice. The spiritual disfigurement of those close to us we try and rectify with chastisement that reminds them of the consequences of breaking God’s laws. In the natural when the earth fails to receive the waters needed, drought conditions can cause all sorts of horrible and deadly consequences. In the supernatural, when the human spirit fails to receive the living water of God’s word, it too will suffer all sorts of horrible and deadly consequences for without the image of God growing in that soul, the devil will invade and occupy.
Today, when we see so much evil dominating every walk of life, it’s equivalent to a climate change that deviates from the norms so drastically, only harmful results are occurring. The environmentalists work to rearrange our environmental priorities, and just so must we work to rearrange our priorities in the spiritual atmosphere of our culture. 
If we allow toxins into our water or atmosphere we suffer and die, so why is it so hard to comprehend that all the escalating vile elements existing in our society are already causing too much suffering and death and must be dealt with… with just as much importance as the physical environment! We eliminate plastic bags and straws our stupidity generated, so why can’t we eliminate guns and all the negative hate speech our evil stupidity enables… changing laws and dictates can occur with education just as easy as any law enacted to curtail wrongful behavior.
The devil has done a masterful job of planting poisonous weeds all over the Garden of life God created in beauty, and consequently, more gardeners are needed to pull out and eradicate the insidious wrongs and replant the blossoms of right conduct. Religious belief has diminished not because it is wrong, but rather because growing evil has ridiculed its existence away for it condemns their vile behavior, and needing justification for their immoral lifestyles, 
those proponents of evil fight righteous behavior with various isms, like relativism, humanism, scientism, atheism… all fighting God Himself… whose side do you want to be on? We must not let religious belief disintegrate to a minority without power; pull as many weeds as you can by reporting them to whatever authority necessary to curtail their activity, but more importantly, convert the idle and wasted lives with an introduction to God however you can, from a simple neighborly talk to the offer of a ride to church… act to increase belief and to decrease evil… and of course, always pray for God’s intervention. If we don’t work to inspire and preserve spiritual life, it won’t matter if there is a natural world… it will be uninhabitable… it will be hell on earth.
