Daily Devotional for June 29, 2013

Hebrews 2:11
So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.
 
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
 
Today would be my brother Tim’s 52nd birthday.  It would also be the 50th birthday of a childhood friend who has passed…Dr. J. Aaron Little – the older son of my piano teacher.  And today is the 49th birthday of my cousin, Darin, who grew up in Texas.  We didn’t know each other well growing up… but our families have somewhat reconnected in the past year.  While the bond with my brother was unimaginably strong, these other two men were/are “brothers” of sorts, as well.  I spent countless hours in the Little home as a teenager, where I grew to love Aaron, his sister Lee Ann and brother Adam like family.  We attended the same church growing up… the roots of our relationship run deep.
 
When my cousin Darin lost his dad last fall, the family gathered for his burial in a local family cemetery, where our shared ancestors are laid to rest.  When my grandmother died in March, and many of these same cousins returned for her funeral and burial.  In June, another cousin organized a family reunion. We got together to share photographs and memories of good times from the past, family history, and to “pick the brains” of the older relatives who can still remember Grandma and Grandpa and what things were like in this area decades ago.


My sister Suzanne, me, my brother Tim, and my
grandmother Polly, less than three weeks before
Tim went to be with Jesus... September 1998.

There are several people in my life with whom I share no blood relation… but they could not be any more like a sister or brother to me if that were the case. I bet you can say the same.  We share a bond… a mutual love and respect… and in most cases, a deep and abiding love for God.  Ultimately, we are “blood related”… by the blood of Christ!  This is why I think many of my most profound friendships and relationships can be traced back to childhood…and the church in which I was reared.  We learned to love God together at an early age.  I just made a mental list of more than half a dozen families from that era with whom I feel this “brotherly” and “sisterly” connection to this day.
 
In the world at large, we must acknowledge that millions are our brothers and sisters in Christ… and we must warmly embrace them – in our hearts, if not literally.  We cannot judge… we must not exclude… we have to look for their good qualities and operate in peace and calm rather than discord and chaos.  Just as in any “sibling relationship,” there are times when we will argue… when someone will cause us embarrassment or disappointment… when the other guy will say or do something that irritates (if not disgusts) us…when we will all experience a “less-than-proud” moment.  But as “brothers and sisters in Christ,” we all share the same Heavenly Father. At the end of the day, we must not be ashamed of any of our family members.
 
There is great peace and comfort in “family” relationships.  When someone is claiming to be a Christian and acting in an ungodly manner…saying things that are rude or crude…treating others unkindly or in a discriminatory fashion…operating with arrogance and an air of superiority and judgment… it’s hard to say, “That person is my brother/sister in Christ.”  There is a temptation to act out toward this person… to feel hurt and disappointment…or to impose distance and/or a separation.  But God is calling us to extend brotherly/sisterly love in Christ to these persons… to make every effort to live in harmony… to do whatever is necessary to get along.  The old adage that “you can pick your friends… but not your family” is true - even in the body of Christ!
 
So today, I celebrate three men… all of whom probably got on my last nerve more than once as we grew up… and I celebrate the larger family of believers in Jesus Christ.  I take great joy in knowing that I belong to such a big… and growing… family.  The bond I feel with others who love Jesus so deeply gives me a tremendous peace and satisfaction… and in Jesus’ name, I long to encourage others to join the circle. Just imagine how glorious our “family reunion” will be when we get to Heaven!
 
What about you?  Are you at peace with your Christian brothers and sisters?  Do you feel the bond that comes from a shared love and acceptance in Jesus?  Are there “siblings” who rub you the wrong way… both those you know personally and others you “know of”?  Isn’t it time to start loving all of them with the love of Jesus… to drop the judgments and the feelings of irritation and/or ego – and to allow them the same latitude and grace you would hope they afford you?
 
Will this be the day you reconnect with some of your “family” members and embrace them… warts and all?  Don’t you think it should be?
 
©2013 Debbie Robus