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Family Together
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Family. There’s
something warm and inviting about the word. It floods the mind
with thoughts of home and hearth, of fathers and mothers,
brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, grandma and grandpa. It
conjures memories–memories of togetherness, of commonality,
of all being in one place at the same time. It calls to mind
picnics, ball games, holidays spent with loved ones. Family.
It just says something special. And the thing it most
especially says is “together.”
Together. There is no such thing as family without together.
No matter how the word is used– whether in regard to
biology, or mathematics, linguistics, or physics–family
always suggests something held together by a common bond.
The church is the family of God (Galatians 6:10; Ephesians
2:19). God is the Father, saints are His children. We are
referred to as “sons of God” (Galatians 5:5-7).
There are things that bind families together–things like
common goals, common interests, even common struggles. The
church is the same. All these things are both recommended and
common in the family of God.
Worship brings the family of God closer to the Father. Worship
is filial (fatherly) devotion, an attitude of reverential
respect, of love and high regard for the one who has given us
life. When we direct our love toward our common Father, we
become stronger in both our devotion to Him and our devotion
to one another. We are told to “worship Him in spirit and in
truth” (John 4:24). While this may refer to the attitude we
are to have when we worship Him, I believe there is more to it
than that. I believe He means we should reach down to the very
depth of who we are and accord to Him the most reverent
feelings of that inner being. In the ultimate reality, worship
is the adoring reverence of the creature for the Creator, and
that means our most fundamental feelings of love and devotion
must be extended to Him. When that is the case, it is
axiomatic that we also come closer to one another.
Being together as a family brings us closer to the Father. He
is the focal point of our assembling. When we sing together,
we bring honor to His name. “I will sing with the spirit and
I will sing with the understanding also” (I Corinthians
14:15) carries the same responsibility as the worship to which
we earlier alluded–there must be a reaching down to the
essence of who we are when we sing praises to Him. Colossians
3:16-17 begins with “Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly,” a sure indication of the need for the deepest
respect we can muster before we even begin to sing praises to
Him. Also, as we are told to teach and admonish “one
another” in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, the command
closes with the enjoinder that we sing “with grace in your
hearts to the Lord.” Worshipful prayers brings us closer to
God. As we each come closer to Him in our personal prayers and
supplication, we come to be closer to one another, praying to
the same Father, seeking the same blessings, extolling the
same Savior. The Lord’s Supper, served in the assembly of
the saints, brings us together so that we can “consider one
another to provoke unto love and good works” (Hebrews
10:23-25). Worshiping together promotes an intimate
relationship with the family.
Family love is never better or more to be desired than in the
church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Love is the divine mucilage,
it binds us all together in Him (Colossians 3:14). That love
originated in Him, and is radiated to us; we ought therefore
to radiate it to one another. “Beloved, let us love one
another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God” (I John 4:7). There’s
togetherness in that. Nothing brings us closer to Him than
love for one another, born of love for Him. It makes peace
possible. It solidifies unity. It emboldens hope. It gives
security to a proper direction. It makes motive high and
noble. Furthermore, to love the brethren is to be like the
Father. “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the
truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (I
Peter 1:22). We be brethren. We each belong to God our Father.
Brethren love brethren.
The family together is a beautiful sight. Think about the
pictures you have seen of families together–paintings,
portraits, photographs–they all speak to togetherness, to a
common love, and to a common devotion to a common father. The
family together is what the church of our Lord is all about.
Let us be careful that we don’t diminish its beauty by being
derelict and neglecting the family together.
I love my family, don’t you?
Dee Bowman
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Copyright (C)
2009
Southside Church of Christ
All rights reserved.
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