Family Matters

I am really missing my family. We have been apart for the better part of three weeks now. I am very excited that this weekend we will be reunited in our new home in Wichita. I have thought a lot about family lately. I have heard many people say that family comes first and that they are the most important thing in their life (except for God, of course); and I would agree. But, I have a little different take on this whole family thing. Bear with me a moment.

I believe that the church is a family. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ and He is the head. We all have a home and we spend time there together. Now, in our own family we have a home and we gather there and fellowship there; and for some of us, we retreat and hide out there. And I think that is what we too often do in the church. We retreat to our family abode and we hole up there. We talk a lot about getting outside the four walls of the church and taking the message of Jesus to those who would never enter through the doors. We call it responsible Christianity.

So, what is so different about our personal families? Why do we think that we should spend all our spare time in our home away from other people? I am not suggesting that we don't need time there to refresh and regroup and just love on each other. We need that as a family of God as well. But we don't have to be in our home to be with our family. Home is a sanctuary and not a podium. If we spend all our spare time there we are not being responsible with our time. We have to learn to balance our much needed home time with an even much more needed time in our communities.

We often say that churches are too inward focused and not getting outside themselves. I think we might want to take a look at our own lives and evaluate whether we are falling into that same trap. Know this; I love spending time with my family...there is little else I would rather do more. But what I am suggesting is that we set the example for the church and get outside our own four walls and begin to go forth, as a family, and demonstrate what real love and worship is all about. God knows we need it...and God knows the world needs it.