THE FAMILY IN CHRIST

What does family mean to you?

I never really had a true close knit family experience but I had a sense of what a family would looks like.

When we read the Bible we see that Jesus the head of the Church gave himself up for the Church and we regard this as a model of what a father figure would resemble and would do for his own family.

We also see a family scene in the lives of the the Lord's disciples by the way they interacted with one another in the manner they cared for each other and also at times when they disagreed with one another and how they always stood together for one another.

A true test of a family comes in times of adversity when we are put in a place of hardship and when facing a trial by fire as it were, it is then that we learn the true meaning of a family when each member of the family comes together in a selfless and sacrificial manner to lend a helping hand by banding together in love and serving one another's needs.

Sadly the Church of today in my observation has fallen short of the true meaning of what is and how a family should resemble, in my experience as a Christian I have been disappointed mostly by Christian brothers and sisters who I regard as my spiritual family more so then non Christians, could it be possibly because I'm expecting the Church at large to resemble the Christ of the Bible and not being able to see and experiencing the manifestation of what the Bible describes to be as family of God in Christ.

I know that we are all in the process of growth in the body of Christ and that we are all at different level of maturity in Christ as the Bible says that we are being built up in our faith, however, I cannot but feel that the Church is simply complacent and unwilling to mature, possibly due to its deep assimilation to the world by being to entrenched in worldly ways in embracing the culture of the world today.

In my mind I have a true sense of what a family would looks like in the context of the text of the Bible, however I don't see it in its entirety in the church today.

We as a people of God must always aim be genuine in our relationship with each other in dealing with one another and not simply be casual minded and uncommitted for we will be spending eternity together in His presence.

So how do we do confront this?

Let us firstly be truthful to our self by acknowledging that we need to be more compassionate, loving, understanding and mature in dealing with one another in the context of our faith because we have the Holy spirit as our witness and by not being truly genuine we grief the holy spirit and make the Lord's sacrifice of no effect in our lives as a true Christian thus being unfruitful as a member of Christ family and the Church at large.

The Bible says that the greatest is love, how do we love when we seek our brother/sister only when it's convenient or of benefit to us or maybe only in times of emergency and at other times we are never heard of or seen, this is the naked truth of our Christian society today as we resemble more of the world when we focus on our benefit and confirm more then the true love of Christ which is a sacrifice.

1 Corinthians 13:13 - Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

The Bible says we are a peculiar people and we are the salt of the earth and we bear the light of Christ. Neither of this is really evident when we take a close look at some churches today, we resemble more like the old testament which is the Shadow of the new.

The world is slowly creeping into the church and worst still into our hearts when we allow for this type of behaviour to rule in our lives. We must be reminded of the scripture that says that the love of many will grow cold in the last days.

Matthew 24:12 - Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.

We as the body of Christ must stand united as one unit even as Christ is the head and is married to the church and is one with the Father and the Holy spirit and we the Church are to be one in Christ, as the bride of Christ we must be a chaste bride unadulterated by the world we live in.

By this we get a better picture of what a family should look like when we see the trinity of the Godhead being three yet are one having different names but one God having different characteristics but one identity and with one mission.

So must we the Church be if we are to make a difference in the world today. The Bible says that the world will know us by our love for one another, this in essence is the true meaning of a family of God.

John 13:35 - Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Are you really part of His family?

Ephesians 4:13-15 - Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ

May you be blessed in reading this article.

Victor Sidhu

Healing Wings Global Ministries