Family Portrait

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Fathers hand.  I and My Father are one."
John 10: 27-30 NKJV

Since the passing of my mother I've struggled a bit with the thought of not having much of a family here on the West Coast.  See, the familes of my mother and father reside in the midwest, not out west where I am.  There is a seperation there.  Well, there is that seperation in my physical family that is.  For as we know, the family of Jesus is much larger.  It is this family that we who follow our Lord Jesus are born into.  We are His children or, as Jesus speaks in John 10:27, his sheep.  I believe that Jesus used this illustration in order to make his point to those He was speaking to, as He so often did in His parables.  Whatever hurts and misgivings which we've experienced from our own families, the family of Christ will always be one gently led by a loving Father.  That may be goood news to many who have suffered torn family relationships.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
1 Peter 2: 9-10 NKJV

I broach this subject for a reason.  Yes, I know that I am a member of that royal priesthood, called by Christ Jesus.  Not only that, it is Christ who has done away with my former spirit by his death and now resides within me.  Of course, as I recognize this as being true in myself, I must also recognize it as being so in other members of the family of Christ.  That, my friends, is where my thoughts for this page began.  Some time ago, my freind David challanged me to begin seeing others as God saw them.  Well, let me tell you, for someone who has been hurt by another, even another christian, this can be a difficult thing to ask of someone.  For once those doors of rejection, hurt and condemnation are opened, the wounds can be pretty deep indeed.  Many of us may find that we carry many of these wounds for years to come.  Eventually, those wounds may even come to define our perception of ourselves.  This is where we get caught in the trap of our spiritual enemy.
It is in 1 Peter 2:9 that we learn that we who follow Jesus are of a holy priesthood and a holy nation.  Not just Scott, but ALL who follow Christ.  Yes, this includes those who through their actions or words end up hurting us.  We may not like thier behavior, but it is ultimately not we who are their  judge, only a part of the very same family as they are.  For with the same love, grace and mercy that God uses to guide me even in my rough times when I don't follow his direction, he uses that very same love to gently guide that fellow christian who has offended me in some way.  It is my own arrogance that sees this love and grace as worthy of being bestowed only upon myself.

~Scott~