My wife and I enjoy going out to eat with each other. I know, I know, normal, healthy couples do this all the time and it is called a DATE. But really, we enjoy going to good restaurants and experiencing excellent food.
We were at one such place a couple of months ago. The service was spot on. The appetizers were just the right amount of food, but also spectacular. The main course lived up to the hype and wasn’t even that expensive!
In fact, we might go so far to say we really liked this restaurant, maybe even say we loved the restaurant. It was just such an overall good experience and it made us want to go back. For me to say I loved something like a restaurant is a pretty big deal. I don’t “love” many things outside of people.
Something else I love are my three daughters. I have a photo album on Facebook that is entitled “I love my daughters.” I have a hashtag #ilovemydaughters for pictures of my daughters on Instagram or “insta” as the kids call it.
I am more aware than ever that these kids grow up fast! My oldest will be EIGHTEEN years in just over three years. They are getting taller. They are getting smarter. So when they ask me to do something I am sensitive to the fact that they will someday grow up so I get off my computer or whatever it is I am doing and I do it with them.
I play games. I go shoot some hoops. I volunteer at school. I go kick around a soccer ball. I proofread their writing assignment or go over math homework. And I do it with intentionality because I love them and I want them to not only know it, but feel it.
What do we mean when we say, “I love my church”? What does it mean to love one another? Does God want us to love one another like I loved my experience at the restaurant, or does He want me to love the church like I love my daughters?
With the restaurant I was experiencing something given to me, a place offering ME something. The restaurant fed me and provided a moment in which I could participate. If the experience itself was excellent, I could rate it as so, give it a positive review on Yelp or Facebook, and recommend it to others. If it was the opposite type of experience, I wouldn’t return and I’d tell others to avoid it.
With my daughters I was experiencing an important relationship. My daughters are people whom I am intrinsically connected with. My love for them isn’t based on what I’m receiving or experiencing but based on who they are and what is involved in our relationship. Because I love them, I care for them, I play with them, we go through life together. That journey might bring about some not so great experiences, but we work through those.
The church was never meant to be like a restaurant; it’s meant to be based on relationships. This begins first and foremost in a relationship with Jesus, and through that we are connected to one another. His death on the cross was an act of love for us. In the Gospel of John we are told it was because God loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us, that we might have real life. He intentionally loves us and serves us.
In being brought into that relationship, we aren’t only brought into a relationship with Jesus but also into relationship with one another. Being in a relationship with Jesus means being part of the church, part of His kingdom, part of the family of faith. This family, like all families, is not always easy to get along with, but with Jesus as the head of the family we gain more than we could ever lose in being part of it.
My prayer for all of us is that we would see the church as the family of God. That we would see this family as worth investing in and cherishing. That we would be intentional in being with each other. Because we can be assured that with Jesus at the head of this family, we will be better off for it.
