Being a Redheaded Christian

Suggested Reading: John 13:31-38

If you ever see me or my wife in public with our kids it is impossible to not know who our children belong to. Both of the kids have the same bright red hair as my wife and the same facial structure that runs on my side of the family. Even if they wanted to, my children could not deny who they belong to. When we go out to eat with large groups, it is very easy for our waiter or waitress to know exactly who belongs on our check.

In a similar way, the people we interact with should experience the same kind of certainty that we belong to Jesus. But how, exactly, does that work? It's not as if people can look at us, like they look at my children, and notice the physical resemblance. So what is it that people can see that lets them know we belong to Jesus. I'm sure we could come up with lists of things: compassion, caring for the poor, righteous living, honesty, integrity, loving our neighbor as ourselves. All of those things are important, of course, and we should be characterized by those things. But none of them are the thing that causes people to recognize our affiliation with Jesus when they see them.

In John 13, immediately after Jesus' last supper with the disciples before his crucifixion and after Judas had left to betray him, Jesus told the disciples, "I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another" (John 13:34-35, HCSB). According to Jesus' words here, there are two important things necessary for people to recognize that we belong to Jesus. First, they must see us, as believers, loving one another. Of all the things that we can do, Jesus pointed to this one thing as the primary marker that would let everyone know we belong to him. Not being loving in general. Not even loving our neighbors as ourselves. Not being non-judgmental. But loving each other - our fellow believers. Is it any wonder that the world doesn't believe we belong to a resurrected Lord when we are often better known for fighting each other and arguing with each other than for loving each other?

But the second thing Jesus's words require if people are to recognize that we belong to him is that people must see us together. We cannot be seen to love each other if we are not seen with each other. More than that, we cannot be seen to love each other if we are not seen to love being with each other. Do you really believe that people love each other when they never want to be around each other?  Is it even possible to love someone if you are never together? At least in a biblical, unconditional, love-is-a-choice-not-just-a-feeling kind of way?

Do you want to convince the people in your school or office or neighborhood that Jesus is real and that you belong to him? Let them see you with other believers, actively loving each other the way that Jesus loved us. By this all people will know  that we belong to him.

Turning a Prince of Thieves Into Family

Suggested Reading: Nehemiah 5:1-8

In spite of the fact that he couldn't speak with an English accent, my favorite Robin Hood movie of all time is Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Price of Thieves. While many of the relationships change throughout the course of the movie, the relationship which changes most dramatically is the relationship between Robin and Will Scarlett. From the moment Will Scarlett is introduced, the viewer can tell that he hates Robin, that he loathes him. Seemingly before he has any reason, Will would just as soon slit Robin's throat as acknowledge him as leader of their band of merry men. But all of that changes when Will is released by the Sherriff of Nottingham to track down and kill Robin Hood.

When Will appears in the woods where Robin and Little John are burying their dead and trying to regroup, Robin is ready to let John kill Will as a traitor. But when Will reveals that he is Robin's half-brother, the son of the woman who comforted Robin's widowed father, everything changes. Robin grabs Will and hugs him closely and says, "I will stand with you. Side by side to the end." In that one moment, when Robin realizes that Will is family, a precious treasure he thought he had lost, everything changes.

Back in Nehemiah chapter 5, when Nehemiah was forced to confront the nobles and officials who had been exploiting the people, listen to the language he used, "You are exacting usury from your own countrymen! As far as possible, we have bought back our Jewish brothers who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your brothers, only for them to be sold back to us!" (Nehemiah 5:7-8, ESV). "Your own countrymen." "Our Jewish brothers." "Your brothers." Nehemiah wanted to remind these nobles and officials that the people they were exploiting were their family. Not only were they members of the same ethnic group, but they were all descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They had all been adopted as God's chosen people. They were family. And family is supposed to treat each other right, even if they don't treat anybody else right.

Unfortunately, we often get that backwards. We treat everybody else right but treat the members of our own family badly. And it can get even worse when we talk about members of our church family. Too many of us rarely stop to think about the fact that the people we are supposed to worship, work, and witness with are family -- that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, adopted by the same Heavenly Father. We should treat our family well. We should cut them more slack than we do because they are our family. We should go out of our way to be understanding and forgiving, to be supportive and considerate.

We should treat our families, both physical and spiritual, well. We should be able to say to one another, like Robin said to Will Scarlett, "I will stand with you. Side by side to the end."