It would probably surprise many of us to discover that even Jesus had to face the busyness of life and family. In Luke 8:19, 20 we read: “Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.’” Jesus makes a startling statement in verse 21: “He replied, ‘My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.’”
Jesus had a family. We know his parents, Mary and Joseph; and Matthew 13:55, 56 tells us that Jesus had brothers and sisters. Yet Jesus said he had another family: those who hear God’s Word and do what it says.
Jesus has a family, and it’s us, the church. Paul says as much in Romans 8:16, 17: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, we have a challenge. We have to make a change in our thinking. We, God’s children at Memorial Church of Christ, have to stop thinking that we are an organization of volunteers and start thinking like a family.
I know that we must take care of our own families—1 Timothy 5:8 says that those who do not take care of their families are “worse than an unbeliever”—but we need to give God’s family, the church, a higher priority than our commitment and participation seems to show. For example, we have 517 active members, but our weekly attendance is not close to that number. We also have only 188 people (including nonmembers) who are actively serving. Of the 308 families who are listed in our directory, only 72 have made a commitment to support our missionaries through Faith Promise giving. Consider these numbers and think about what you can do to help our family grow.
Jesus made it clear that his relationship with God had greater priority than his relationship with his family. If we continue to pray that God would make us more like Jesus and focus less on ourselves, we will find ourselves wrestling with this concept and its daily application.
It doesn’t have to be all that difficult, however, if we understand that our goal isn’t finding a “balance” but focusing on God. Granted, there are a lot of things we have to get done within the 24 hours we have every day, but if we focus on balancing all of those things, we will never be satisfied. However, if we can focus on God and align everyone and everything in priority related to him, then we will