“While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Matthew 12:46-50

That is a pretty popular question. Not because it’s cool to ask, not because it seems that only ‘the right people’ ask it. It it something that we all wonder about and want to be sure of:
“Am I living and operating in the will of God?”
Which is usually followed by:
“Is He pleased with me?” or “”Does He know I’m sincere?” and other questions along those lines. We seek out approval if we desire His will be done in our lives. And in that desire, we often want something tangible, something we can see. We want an assurance that we are doing the right thing.
And something that we have a tendency to make more complicated than we should becomes a clear simple statement of fact from the mouth of Jesus. I am so thankful that He speaks clearly. I am also daily impressed how many questions of my heart, and how many worries I encounter, are answered the next morning in my time in the Word.
Seriously.
The very next morning.
On a regular basis.

Jesus doesn’t want us wondering and He isn’t going to leave us out hanging in the cold. And so He issues a loving, grace-filled, friendly reminder that is meant to comfort us and quiet our anxious hearts. In this simple statement, we are reminded that our relationship with God is closer than we often think, it is more precious to Him than we are prone to give it credit for, and that the whispers and lies of the enemy are often focused at cutting off our lines of communication with Him.

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

If we are walking as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6) and focused on His grace and our life as sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) and we see Him working to purify us, changing attitudes and desires.

“This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”
1 John 3:19-24

Ask God to help you be sensitive to that voice of correction, to be ready for change that He directs and live according to His Word. His grace covers us, His love guards and guides us and the blood of Christ justifies us. Walk with Him in confidence, ask Him to silence the whispers and lies of the enemy and to strengthen you to walk boldly with Him as you Go Love others for His sake.