Meet Your New Family

First off, sorry for not posting yesterday. I went to a mechanic for what should have been a 1 hour stop and it turned into about 3.5 hours. With the other stuff I wanted to get done yesterday, this sort of fell by the wayside.

But I'm back now and with an important message: You have a new family. A new dad and new brothers and sisters.

We throw these terms around blithely as Christians: Father God, brothers and sisters in Christ, the church family. We often seem to forget what they mean.

Think of your own father on earth (or, for those of you who had no father or had a bad one, think of your mother or closest positive male role model). Did you ignore him every time he wanted to spend time with you? Did you want to get to know him? Did you ask him how to do things? Did you ask him for things you wanted? Did you get punished by him when you did something wrong? Do you now appreciate that punishment because you know it helped you become a stronger person? Was he there for you when you were sad or hurt or scared?

Not all of us had a father or father figure in our lives, and none of us had one who was perfect in all of these things, but God is and He takes that roll with us when we become Christians if we let Him. He becomes responsible for seeing to our needs and determining what's best for us, even if it's sometimes not what we want. He becomes responsible for binding up our wounds. He consoles us when we're sad and soothes us when we're scared. He wants to be everything to us, just like our earthly father was when we were little kids. Final authority in our lives? Him. Source for everything we want? Him. Person whose opinion of our value matters the most? Him. One who punishes us and decides what we actually get? Him.

We have to view ourselves as part of His family, though. We have to let Him play that role in our lives. He's not going to come in and take over and demand we love Him. That wouldn't be love on either our part or His. A lot of Christians don't do this, however. We don't see Him as our Father, as our source for all good things. We may seem Him as a restrictive overlord who doesn't want us to have any fun, as someone waiting for us to screw up so He can give us a good smiting, or as someone who may give good things on occasion, but either holds out on the best stuff or gives it arbitrarily. Some of us may even see Him as benevolent and kind. But how many of us truly see Him as our Father? That's something I'm still working on, honestly.

One that's even harder for me is seeing everyone else as my brother and sister. One of my roommates who just moved out stopped by today to ask us to pay his share of the rent. Our agreement says that it's split by those on the lease and he is still on it, even though he moved out. He's struggling to make ends meet with his new wife, though. I suggested he pay half and the rest of us split the other half and that was agreed on, but everything in me wanted to tell him to live up to his agreement, that I wouldn't even ask to get out of something I signed. I failed to see him as a brother. If my brother asked me to do something like this because he was having a hard time financially, I would have helped out willingly. I might not have just sprung for the whole thing, but even with the offer I made, it would have been done with a willing heart. Now, though, my heart is not loving toward him. It's proud and angry because his decision is costing me money and my love isn't strong enough to overlook that. Writing this has helped, though.

Do you do this with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you give your very holy advice willingly but withhold from them when they need something from you? Do you give excuses instead of help? Do you become proud more easily than you become generous and forgiving? Do you forget that these people need you and that you need them, that you may draw each other closer to God and be examples of God's love for us to one another? I know I do. Today I did, and yesterday after I left the mechanic, I was even worse. And yet, this is my new identity. I am a son of God. I am your brother. I love Him. I love you. God help me fulfill those last two.