God's Family
© Steph Gutmann
When we become Christians we come into the family of God. We become one with other members of God's family. We become brothers and sisters. What you do affects me and what I do affects you. Whether we admit it or not, if you suffer, I am suffering too. Even if I don't speak to you, I am still affected by your suffering. Even if you don't like me, you are still affected by my suffering.
It is what Jesus meant when He said we are one, just like He and the Father are one. When Jesus spoke or acted, He was not independent of The Father.
When we speak or act, we are not independent of each other. Neither are we independent of God. We are one with each other and we are one with Him who is our Head.
The problem is that today, the Church has become a dysfunctional family. As the church grew more dysfunctional, the correlation with the deterioration of families in society cannot be ignored! Families are affected by one another. When one member hurts, all other members hurt too. Whether they want to admit it or not, each family member is affected by others in their family.
I look around my streets and I see people hurting and confused. God looks around our streets and He sees people who are hurting, broken, lost... People who are in His family, His dysfunctional family. His broken family. His much-loved family. He sees people who should belong in His family, apart from us.
As a Father who desires to see His children loving one another, working together, playing together, speaking together, encouraging each other, God desires this for all of us. That not one of His children would be left out of the family circle: alone, afraid, grieved by the word or action of a brother or a sister.
God gave each of His children a gift and a skill. Not for us to chase our own desires for individual gain, but that if we put our gifts together... If we put our skills together with others in our family, much would achieved. We would accomplish many things in the family-name of the Father. The family business would thrive under the direction of the real God-Father!
Each of us has a dream. Each of us a desire in our hearts. Each of us has a purpose for which we are created. To honour God. To honour His family. To demonstrate love, so that those outside the family would see what we have and want to have it for themselves. That the world would know our Father through our family unit-y.
I remember having friends whose families seemed so much better than mine (I had a great family!); the siblings seemed to have a closer bond than I had with my brothers; There seemed to be a deeper love between parents and children, between brothers and sisters. I wanted to be around those families. I wanted to be involved with them, to be like them, to feel a part of that love and deep bond they seemed to have.
When people look in on God's family, what do they see? How often do we slate our leaders... How often do we complain about what that brother or sister said or the way they spoke to us... How often do we gossip about what she did, or what he didn't do... How we get jealous of a brother or sister's blessing because we don't have it and think we deserve it more... Lie and deceive others in our family, so as to appear to be something we know we really aren't... Or we say we will do something we actually have no intention of doing... Or we behave outside the view of our family in a way we wouldn't do in front of them.
Do we hoard what we have, not wanting to share it in case someone takes advantage of us and what we offer, or in case someone takes our gift away from us, or they may see the gift we have and desire to be better than we are in exercising it.
As a husband and wife become one, so we become one, when we become a part of God's family. What's mine becomes yours and what's yours becomes mine. We compliment one another. We support each other. We propel the other to go further than we can, because we understand that we all have limitations and that we can't always achieve things independently.
Other communities have a grasp of this oneness, of working together, of pooling resources, of supporting one another, of drawing one another in. Why can't God's Family!
When we are one, your joy should cause me to rejoice, my joy should cause you to rejoice. But it doesn't. I am envious of your blessing. You are jealous of what I have received. But you are one in me and I am one in you. We are one in Christ. What happens to you - good or bad - affects me because you are my brother, you are my sister. I hope you see me for who I am - your sister, because we are in the same family, and what happens to me - good or bad - affects you too.
You and me... We are God's Family!
