Coffee With The Lord

Family life is often portrayed in idealistic and romanticized terms. Everyone sitting around a fireplace engaged in intimate conversation with smiling faces filled with evident love and admiration. Would be nice – but that’s not the way it often is.

A local church is a family … and sometimes we’re more like a REAL family than we want to admit! Relational tensions, differences of opinion, and sometimes a “family squabble” (or outright fight) sometimes characterize a local congregation of believers.

The idealized picture? There is an old Southern Gospel song that put it this way…

“You will notice we say “brother and sister” ’round here,
It’s because we’re a family and these are so near;
When one has a heartache, we all share the tears,
And rejoice in each victory in this family so dear.

“From the door of an orphanage to the house of the King,
No longer an outcast, a new song I sing;
From rags unto riches, from the weak to the strong,
I’m not worthy to be here, but praise God I belong!

(Refrain)
“I’m so glad I’m a part of the Family of God,
I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His Blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I’m part of the family, the Family of God”
(Bill and Gloria Gaither)

I love the song! … The problem? It’s not always quite that way!

That’s what caused Apostle to say…

“I therefore, a prison for the Lord, URGE YOU… (one of the strongest words in the Greek language – “parakaleo” – beseech or beg) to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…

Then he encourages believers to remember what they have in common – what they share… “There is ONE body and ONE Spirit – just as you were called to the ONE hope that belongs to your call – ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6 ESV)

It’s a wonderful thing to be in a family where unconditional love – even “tough love” is the pervasive dynamic… It’s also a bit challenging at times. Hey, sometimes we’re more like a REAL family than we want to admit!