There are families of relatives or like-relatives who gather;
There are town, region or state families with shared vision;
There are countries who are families with common allegiance;
There is, in a sense, an earthly family who shares the characteristic of being human;
Believers across the world become family who are reconciled with God and thus position him as their leader;
Unbelievers connect as family who reject God and thus position themselves out of fellowship with him.Seems we are all stuck somewhere in family.
Each layer of family can be thought of as a fabric of unity, regardless of how frayed and smelly, or tenderly woven and fragrant. Family is always held together by some kind of weave.
If we zoom out to God's perspective, he reveals himself through the family of Abraham (Genesis 18, Acts 3):
Abraham is going to become a large and strong nation; all the nations of the world are going to find themselves blessed through him. Yes, I've settled on him as the one to train his children and future family to observe God's way of life, live kindly and generously and fairly, so that God can complete in Abraham what he promised him.
God's covenant-word to Abraham provides the text: 'By your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.'Our very redemption is woven into the context of family. Definitely the family weave we need most.
But humans will be humans. We reject radical love and stubbornly pursue our own ways. God says, 'Here I am, choose me,' and we think we know better. We resist the fragrance of belonging to the family fabric he has woven into history.
We choose an absence of love demonstrated.
Autism is the absence of love demonstrated. A young child's slide into autism usually contains a reversal of existing love and warmth and belonging. The family fabric finds itself frayed and torn and has to cope with an absence of what once was.
We become spiritually autistic toward God when we slide away from his offer of radical love, warmth and belonging. He must feel like we feel when trying to relate to our autistic children. Toward him, we interrupt our communication to chase fruitless impulses, we love in fits and starts and throw tantrums of thanklessness, and we choose to stay stuck in a place without benefits held by an unseen power that holds us hostage.
Consider the fabric of family to which you belong--the one that you have joined through your decision about God. Are you considering how to become better woven into his redemption fabric?
He invites us to demonstrate our love for him by letting him care for us and lead us.
Family fabric no longer frayed; spiritual autism healed.
Thanks, God, for such an extraordinary offer. May we choose well.
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