When the Church Becomes Family

In a recent conversation with Kharis Publishing’s Tell Your Story team, I was asked, What does family mean to you?

This was my response: Family is the group of people who know you at your best and your worst and love you anyway. Those kinds of relationships do not come naturally to us; they require constant attention, adjustment, grace, forgiveness, and love. My greatest joys in life have been experienced in the presence of my wife and our four children. If I’m being honest, the best part of almost every day is the last thirty minutes I get to spend unwinding with Lisa at night, even though I usually struggle to stay awake the whole time. That’s family.

The apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 5 and 6 that the gospel not only shapes what we believe. It reshapes the way we live with the people closest to us. Husbands are called to love sacrificially. Wives are called to respond with respect. Children learn obedience. Parents are urged to lead with patience and care. Even everyday work and responsibility are reframed as service to Christ.

Paul introduces this whole section with a simple command:

“Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:2).

In other words, the grace we receive from God is meant to show up in our most ordinary relationships.

The church is not simply a place we attend once a week. It is a family where we practice the same things that make our homes flourish: grace, patience, forgiveness, humility, and love. These kinds of relationships do not happen automatically. They grow slowly as the Spirit of God shapes us into people who learn how to live together under the lordship of Christ.

When that happens, the church begins to look a lot like family, and family begins to reflect the love of Christ.

Prayer

Lord, help our homes and our churches reflect Your love. Teach us patience, forgiveness, and humility so that the grace we receive from You becomes the grace we extend to others. Amen.

Reflection

Where might God be inviting you today to practice grace and love in your closest relationships?

Perhaps that is what it really means to let the church get inside us.

Getting the Church Inside You: Balancing Faith and Action is available wherever books are sold, including: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQJLCWXX/ and Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/.

Here's a link to the full Tell Your Story article. You do not have to be on Facebook to open it. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CrvqLoQJv/?mibextid=wwXIfr