There is a song we used to do in church which said "we have the best dad in the whole world." Well, that song had two meanings for me. First is obvious, because of Christ's work on the cross I have been adopted as a child of God. Therefore God is my Heavenly Father and he is the best!
The other meaning is the "we" in that song. It says "we have the best dad." It says "we" because everyone who believes in Jesus has been adopted as children of God. This means that we have the biggest family in the whole world. A family which includes people from all nations.
Paul reminds us of this in Romans 12:4-5 when he says "Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other."
We belong to Christ and we belong to each other. It is easy to get caught up in the comings and goings and responsibilities of our own lives that we forget about this great family to which we belong.
I read an article yesterday about Christian persecution in the Middle East. One of the comments after the article (by a reader) said that the Christians there and missionaries who go there know the risk. I found this comment a little distant and harsh. As the brothers and sisters we need to not only be aware of what Christians around the world are facing, but we need also to pray for them. In the west we are able to worship God freely without fear of persecution. Thus, it is easy to distance ourselves from the suffering of our brothers and sisters around the world. However, this is not something we should allow ourselves to do. Those are our brothers and sisters over there, members of our own family that are being tortured, imprisoned, and killed for their faith. We need not distant ourselves from them, but to be aware of what is happening and pray for our family oversees.
Hebrews 13:3 "Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies."
Romans 12:15 "Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep."
