They say that “blood is thicker than water,” and that may be true—to a point. But there’s a deeper truth of God’s kingdom: the Spirit is thicker than blood. Jesus essentially said so when he exalted relationships in the kingdom of God to a higher place than natural kinship (Matthew 10:35-36; 19:29; Mark 3:33-35; John 17:21). In fact, a running theme throughout the New Testament is that those who believe are born of the same Spirit and therefore bound together forever, whether we act like it or not. That’s a much longer and deeper kinship than blood.
We can be glad for that. If not for the primacy of spiritual relationships, we’d be forever descendants of Adam and never related to Christ. Nor would we be adopted into the family of God. Whatever dysfunction that family may exhibit today, it’s temporary. We’re being made into a distinct people under one family name. This is our new identity, our new home, our new life. And it’s thicker, stronger, deeper than anything we’ve ever known before.
