Ultimately, our lives boil down to answering this simple question: “What does God want from me?”

If you could answer that one question once and for all, everything else would take its proper and orderly place in your life.

Otherwise, you will be shadowed by a restless, anxious longing for meaning, value, purpose.

This is a big deal and you would be wise to get the matter settled sooner rather than later in life. What does my Creator expect of me?

God-Shaped Vacuum

I wrote in my book, My Origin, My Destiny: “Author and cartoonist Ashleigh Brilliant once wrote, ‘I have abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy.’ This mindset is like that of people who retreat into the fatalistic view that they are in the hands of unknown powers and are destined to be tossed around by its capricious moods. 

“But try as we may, deep down inside, the heavenly hounds still bark, albeit off in the distance. Pascal wisely observed, ‘There is a God–shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator.’”

This is why God invites us “to be part of a tremendously creative project, under unimaginably splendid leadership, on an inconceivably vast scale, with ever increasing cycles of fruitfulness and enjoyment.”

That is the prophetic vision which “eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,” as the late Christian philosopher Dallas Willard put it.

So, what does God want from me?

The answer to this most urgent question is that God wants you and me to voluntarily choose to join Him in His eternal family here on earth and continuing in Heaven forever.

God has always wanted a family with whom He can share Himself and His glorious creation — people with whom He can share His deepest secrets, His hopes and dreams.

And He wants to delegate His authority to assist God in His administration of His universe. This golden thread of truth runs from cover to cover through the Bible.

But the trouble is, fallen mankind has never really been on the same page with God.

In Mere Christianity, theologian C.S. Lewis summed it up brilliantly: “All that we call human history — money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery — (is) the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. The Old Testament is loaded with references to God having selecting Israel as His earthly family, through whom He intended to bless the whole world, yet being largely broken-hearted at the outcome:

‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not look at you in anger.
For I am gracious,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowledge your wrongdoing,
That you have revolted against the Lord your God,
And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every leafy tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.
‘Return, you faithless sons,’ declares the Lord;
‘For I am a master to you,
And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
And bring you to Zion.’

“Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you knowledge and understanding.” (Jeremiah 3:12-15)

So, what is different about God’s heavenly family?

When you were born into your natural family, you had no choice in the matter. You were descended from a long line of human forbears, you took no part in selecting your parents, economic level, nor your physical, racial, cultural or intellectual status. 

When Jesus died for our sins, and was raised from the dead, He ushered in a new family entity, the church.

This was an all-volunteer, first-generation family joined together by the blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

You could join this family any time you wished — it’s what being born again is all about — a brand new start.

Britannica describes a family as “… a concept that stretches across cultures, histories, and personal experiences. At its core, a family is a group of people connected by blood, marriage or adoption, often living together and sharing emotional, social, and economic bonds.”

By that definition, God’s heavenly family checks all the boxes:

Joined to God by blood: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us …” — Ephesians 1:7

Joined to God by marriage: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory …” — Ephesians 5:25-26

Joined to God by adoption: “He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will …” — Ephesians 1:5

Unlike natural families that confer their DNA package down to you, God’s family confers a direct connection to God through the Holy Spirit, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” — Galatians 3:27-29

How About You?

What family do you belong to?

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