Family

Over this past weekend I was hangin’ with Erin and some friends of mine at the Ann Arbor Art Fair(s). It was loads of fun and I enjoy going each year that I can. Art Fairs are funny to me, because each art fair basically has the same things (at least to me they do). Not only that, but often times when I go, we hardly stop at any booth really. Typically we just walk through, sort of “window-shop” and people watch.

One thing that I always remember when going to the Ann Arbor Art Fair(s) are the preachers on the corner. They cause a lot of reaction in some form or another. Many people just ignore them. A lot of people talk about them as they walk by, but don’t talk to them. Some people confront them. Of the people who confront them, it is often other Christians who disagree with their message or at least disagree with the delivery of their message. I’ve never confronted those street preachers, but I usually disagree with the delivery of their message.

Anyways, this post is about family, and as I looked at those preachers last night, I saw my family. I’m not saying I saw my brother Val or sister Febe in those preachers. I’m not referring to my relatives or my immediate family. I’m talking about my family in Christ. Because, as they say, you can’t choose your family, and it holds true that you can’t choose your family in Christ. So, whether I like it or not, those preachers last night are my family.

A lot of Christians might be ashamed of those preachers. Some might disassociate with them. A lot of Christians in their own hypocrisy will condemn them. Some might even say they’re not Christians at all. But Christians can’t afford to do that with each other. We can’t afford to do that with our Family. How is it that we think we can share the love of Christ with the world when we can’t even share it with our own Family?

Paul addresses family in I Timothy 3. I realize that in that passage Paul is not talking about the Body of Christ as family, but I think we would all agree that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, right? We are family! And whether we like it or not, other Christians, other churches, those who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are our family. If such is the case, we must “manage” our Family with love, grace and a firm application of the Cross of Jesus! 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 always strikes me. It says:

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

I don’t regard Christ from a worldly point of view. And I cannot, I will not regard Christ in my brothers and sisters from a worldly point of view. Whether or not I can see it with my limited vision, Christ is in them. They died the same death with Christ that I did, whether they know it or not, or whether I know it or not. For me to judge them according to their actions (however offensive to me they may be) is to see them outside of Christ.

When we judge other Christians we are seeing them from a worldly point of view. But as Christians we have rejected the worldly point of view, haven’t we? It amazes me at times when I hear Christians agreeing with the world, especially when it comes to the Body of Christ (one particular quote by Gandhi comes to mind). But we are called to see everything the way God sees things. God sees us all with love, grace and Bloodshot eyes (especially the Church). And because Christ is in me, I have it in me to see us all that way too.

I pondered much of this on the drive back home to Detroit. I then realized that while I could see Christ in those preachers at the Art Fair, I sometimes have a hard time seeing Christ in other Christians. And it has less to do with how other people are living and more to do with how I’m seeing. I confess that at times, I judge and have judged other Christians. When people have left the church I’m a part of, I have had lapses in judgment. Or if I hear some song on Christian radio with too much emphasis on how we’re sinners consequently overshadowing the power of the Cross, I can sometimes lapse in judgment. Or if by chance someone forgets who he or she is in Christ (again), I can sometimes lapse in judgment. Or………

Lord, thank You for Your Cross and thank You for Your blood. Thank You for your grace and thank You for my Family. Help us to see each other and ourselves from Your point of view. Open the eyes of our heart Lord, that we may see You in Your Body, Your Church, Your children – our Family. Your Cross was enough for me and for all of us! Praise You for Your most-powerful Cross that overcomes our actions and our judgments!