Today, I am mulling over a lot of things. I’ll just spill my thoughts here. Warning: this may not be real organized and it most certainly will ruffle some feathers.
This is about our Church family & how it gets along. I’ve talked about doing a post on denominations for awhile, but have put it off due to lack of organization & time to get it organized. Today, I’m just putting it out there. Disorganized & all.
Denominations:
Keith & I loved our church in Korea. The interdenominational group was so interesting! We had all colors, nationalities, backgrounds, etc. under the sun, but we had the Lord & English in common so that made us FAMILY!! Pretty much instantly. It got me wishing there weren’t the denominational divisions we have here going on all around us. We are one family, One Body, One baptism, aren’t we?
Blood Relation:
After this last week with Mom at the hospital, I saw & appreciated my family at work. There are many members & we all play a role. God put us together to get the job at hand done. We don’t all do things the same way. Some may think I hovered too much while others felt I didn’t tenderly care enough. I’m just now starting to get old enough to think, them’s the breaks. But I am also appreciating more how everyone plays a different role; each one is needed. Our family needs some to hover, some to do the detail work, some to remind, some to just sit & care. It works the same way in the Family of God. We are just as “Blood related” there. We need each other. This spiritual family we’re born again into works like the other. It’s not coincidence. God designed both of them to reflect Himself. Duh!
Family of God:
Just like in my kin, there are those in the Family of God I love, respect, glean wisdom from, etc. that I don’t see I to eye with on everything. In fact, there are some I don’t have much in common with except that we’re blood relation. But just as with my biological family, I have a loyalty I feel with them. You know, the “don’t say anything bad about my brother” thing? I can say it, & we in the family can talk about it to a certain extent, but there’s a line. There needs to be respect & honor in there or I turn it off.
Rockin’ the Boat:
You can get away with not rocking the boat pretty well if you want until, tell me if you’ve experienced differently, you have children. Then it starts. This caught me off guard, honestly. I wasn’t expecting every little thing to be so evaluated. Bottle or breastfeed, exclusively or partially, work, part time, or stay at home, when to start feeding them, what to feed them, too many clothes on them or not enough, homeschool, charter, or public schooling, community sports or not, etc. etc. etc. Decisions, decisions, opinions, opinions. It comes down to what God shows Keith in leading our family, & me following his lead. Thankfully, Keith & I have great parents who are very supportive, yet throw in their wisdom when needed. I pray we have that balance with our children as the years go by.
Lines & Where to Draw Em:
The lines are drawn on spiritual issues when it starts into the “unscriptural” category. I’ve heard some great men of God being thrown under the bus over one issue or another being accused of being unscriptural. If that’s what’s going on, they should be. And we MUST be diligent to study, dig to find what God really says about these things, and not form our own opinions or just listen & take someone else’s word for things. This takes a whole lot of work, thought, & prayer. But if they’re sturdy, we need to back them up! Period.
With Others:
Another part of that though, is finding the line to decide these things for others & start preaching against someone because of something you’ve found. If you care, you will share when you find things that are off. It’s hard to do that without throwing the baby out with the bathwater though. And, I’m sorry, there are just too many wonderful things these guys have taught me to throw them all out. Plus, you’d be ditching literally every last one of them. And to top it all off, you’d throw me out & I’d do the same to you. We’d find at least one thing we disagree on between us! As Grandma Jean used to say,
“Everyone’s a little off except you & me. And sometimes I wonder about you!”
Liberty 92 