Category: Different Scriptures

“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?  Or what will they give in return for their life?” (Matthew 16:25-26 NRSV)

The truth of this passage can be easily missed.  “Of course nothing is worth trading my life (other translations: soul) for.”  We dismiss the statement as silly or extreme, nod that Jesus has a good point here, and read on.  But there’s something larger being said, that connects with us, especially as parents, in a very real way.

Jesus had just finished blessing Peter for proclaiming Christ as Messiah (v. 16-17), and now we see him saying to Peter “Get behind me, Satan!” (v.23).  It’s true, Peter claimed Jesus as Messiah, but apparently this meant something different to him than to God.  Peter and many of the other followers saw Jesus as their ticket out from under Roman oppression.  A political hope that they could attach themselves to, and be elevated to power alongside their new Messiah.  So when Jesus starts talking about suffering and being killed, Peter rebukes him.  Of course that would never happen, because that’s not the way I want it.

And that, we may accidentally try to value as much as our soul.  Our way.

The issue comes up in a different way as a parent.  Who do we want Jesus to be for our children?  We want Him to take them to heaven someday, to Love them, to protect them, to bless them, and for our children to know about God and be involved in what He’s doing to make all things new.  But are we willing to let go of our children?  Not literally drop them on the side of the street, allowing God to do what he wants…

But in prayer, to offer God our desires and hopes for our children, submitting one of the things we value most in our lives – to His will?  Perhaps it’s not so much that God needs us to do this to use our children for the Kingdom…just like Peter could not have stopped Jesus. But it could be that just as Peter needed to have his view of “Messiah” transformed to help Christ build the Church, we need to have our view of “Parent” and “Jesus loves my children” transformed to partner in what God wants to do within our homes…

It seems that doing so, may lead to finding life as a family…

Romans 12:5 “so we, who are many, are one body in Christ,

and individually we are members one of another.”

Our girls go through phases like a roller coaster over hills.  They can go from sharing ridiculously well with little to no supervision, to yelling at the top of their lungs and demanding some alone time.  Sometimes the hills of the roller coaster last for a day, sometimes for a minute or two.  But that’s simply the life of figuring out just “how” we relate and belong to each other as family.  It’s a different relationship than those who live outside our home.

In Romans chapter 12, Paul is talking to the early church, and reminding them they must be “transformed”.  That Christ has begun a new age, where we can live as citizens of the Kingdom, but that requires not conforming to the patterns  of the world.  One of the foundations for becoming such a group of people is to recognize we’re more than just a group of people. We’re family.  In a family, I’m not simply surrounded by friends and acquaintances.  Ideally, in a family, I’m rubbing shoulders with those I love beyond anything they could do or say.  Ideally, our life as the local church body would be similar.  Unfortunately, in a world impacted by sin, “ideally” is not a guarantee.  But that is why we read these words…Christ enables us to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds”.

It’s not simply about getting my daughters to let go of their individuality and be absorbed into “Andersons”, anymore than we in the body of Christ want to be absorbed completely into being called “another member”.  Each of my children carries a unique presence and contribution to who our family is becoming. Similarly, the scripture acknowledges that “we are many”, and “individually”; yet still “one body”, and “members one of another”.

To the early church in Rome, they were tempted to think that their family membership or civic status meant some sort of “higher level” in the Christian family.  In our churches, this same mindset may come in the form of generational: traditional (Hymn-huggers) or hipster (iPod-huggers) divides.  Paul’s words come just as strongly to our churches today – we belong to each other as important/valued members, living as the complete body of Christ today.  Not simply “valuing the church of tomorrow”, or “gleaning wisdom from the church of yesterday”…but actually living together in today, made complete by Christ as our head.

May parenting our children to love each other, and helping them discover their roles in the family – cause us to pray for the family of God.  May we all discover how we are members one of another…

In a time of prayer a while back, I was struck once again by how similar my prayers are for my family, my local church family, and the family of God.  Motivated both by a desire to connect with these prayers, and admittedly a desire to create something…I came up with a long list of passages from scripture that captured such prayers.  Obviously, I couldn’t use all of them in one fell swoop.  But here are some that made the cut:

I began by writing out some of the prayers with finger-painting, and then covered the canvas by hand…with the word “Love” through the image.  While that dried, I wrote out the scriptures, and tried to see what words or phrases would capture them well, to fit on one canvas.  Finally, I attempted to fit those phrases, with my horrible penmanship…onto the painting.