Here is some of what Christ-centred, Holy Spirit filled family means to me.
Some make a big deal of their ethnicity, nationality and cultural background. It is crucial to shaping and defining their identity.
It is such a big deal to some that the idea of something being more important than that and framing their worldview is hard to perceive in practice. This is certainly an issue for some when it comes to their new life in Christ. Although they read of how Christ has now made one new humanity and we are now children of God with a heavenly citizenship, in practice it’s still tremendously difficult to apply that. It’s far safer to revert to a nominal acknowledgement of the new humanity but reinforce a practice that suggests something different.
There are experiences, available, however of the difference it makes to be a part of this new humanity where the identity in Christ really becomes the priority. There are experiences where people celebrating their cultures come together and learn to work through what the gospel does in making us one in Christ. The patience to appreciate how our differences can be submitted to the desire for the unity in Christ to emerge in loving, submissive and considerate relationships. That patience being a keen focus on what that new identity, that community and that family of God looks like.
It’s not scientific perfection and ticking boxes and everyone understanding things smoothly. For me, however, I connect with people in a way that can only be explained by the love of Jesus. It’s not sentiment – useful though that is at times. It is about the rich love of God that acts in times of trouble, that supports in time of need, that reaches out without resistance, hesitation or reserve because love flows through them – not out of obligation or following policy or even because ‘it says so’. There are experiences of people living together and simply expressing the reality of God’s love, mercy, grace and peace building bridges across barriers that had previously divided us to celebrate the oneness we now have in Christ in real, tangible and substantial ways.
It is because of those experiences that I retain the hope that more of those experiences will be realised because people who love Jesus see the connection with each other because of that and treat each other like family as a result.
That’s a significant part of what Spirit-filled family means to me.
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For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 