“Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those he wanted, and they came to him…..Looking at those sitting in a circle around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”” Mark 3:13, 34-35 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/mrk.3.13-34.CSB

Do we seek to be someone God wants? Are we seeking Him to be with Him because we love Him? God loves everyone, kind of like Grandma, but not everyone likes to visit Grandma or spend time with her. What about us? We know God generally loves us, but does He love us specifically? Does He know we love Him specifically and not generally speaking? There is reciprocity in a love relationship. Certainly, God’s love is unconditional, and He always takes the initiative to love us. Yet we must respond to His love by loving Him if we will receive the full effects of His love. If we want more than a cursory knowledge that God loves us, then we must spend time with God in the word of God and then join God in the work of God, for where He is, there is where His disciples will be, and He is continuing to seek and save the lost through His disciples. We know God chooses us when we experience Him working through us to accomplish His purposes by us. The family of God loves God most and loves one another as we love ourselves. Loving each other, we work together to share the love of God in a world starved for wanting to be loved, chosen, and accepted by God. God wants everyone to love Him, but everyone must be invited to love Him and then helped to love Him to experience fully the love of God He has for us in Christ Jesus.