Don’t Forget Your Family Of Faith

With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. - 1 Peter 5:12-14

Nothing is more powerful than the family of God, not only when they worship together, but when they pray for each other. Do not forget your family of faith. Simon Peter not only gives the directive (don't forget your family of faith), but he also gets specific, giving us three things we should do regarding our family of faith.

1. Recognize and remember those in ministry with you.
Your family of faith is in partnership with you and connected in ministry. You cannot do it all by yourself. God will put people in your life to assist you in ministry. Specifically, Simon Peter mentions Silas and Mark. Do you have partners in ministry? Recognize and remember them.

2. Rejoice in the partnership.
Then the Bible says, “Rejoice in the partnership.” In other words, your ministry partners are chosen together with you, and we should be consistently rejoicing with each other and practicing gratitude for the help and teamwork we experience when we partner with other believers.

3. Remain emotionally connected to each other.
There is a great phrase in today’s key verse that points to emotional connection, “Greet each other with a holy kiss.” I would venture to say you’d only greet someone with a holy kiss if you were relationally close with that person. When we choose to be emotionally connected and build strong relationships with our spiritual family, it makes a difference in our ministry.

Which of these three things that Simon Peter instructs us to do can you begin to implement more this week? How can you make sure you’re not forgetting your family of faith?