Christian Household Envy
I have long been vocal about my envy of Christian households: Christian children living with Christian parents, Christian friends or Christian husbands and wives living together...
Members of Christian households don't understand what a privilege and joy it is to be able to thank and praise God openly in speech and song, or to have the freedom to put on a Christian CD without having to shut the door to your room and plug in the earphones, or to read the Bible without unpleasantness in the living room, or to pray together and discuss Scripture and be encouraged, or to, without qualms and fear of backlash talk happily about your day, what you learnt at Bible study or at service, or sometimes, even to be able to tell the other members of the household that you are going to church or bible study AGAIN.
For people like me who delight in very bad corny jokes, being in a Christian household would allow such exchanges as the one Guangyao enjoyed:
In contrast to being foreigners and refugees in the world, coming together in community with other Christians who love the same people you love and have the same priorities as you is sheer bliss. Thank God for 1-2-1 meetings, bible study groups and services!
Members of Christian households don't understand what a privilege and joy it is to be able to thank and praise God openly in speech and song, or to have the freedom to put on a Christian CD without having to shut the door to your room and plug in the earphones, or to read the Bible without unpleasantness in the living room, or to pray together and discuss Scripture and be encouraged, or to, without qualms and fear of backlash talk happily about your day, what you learnt at Bible study or at service, or sometimes, even to be able to tell the other members of the household that you are going to church or bible study AGAIN.
For people like me who delight in very bad corny jokes, being in a Christian household would allow such exchanges as the one Guangyao enjoyed:
Living as strangers and aliens in the world is of course expected of Christians (see eg. Hebrews 11:13, 1 Peter 2:11). It is also possible that God puts us in such situations to give us opportunities to tell others about the good news. And so Jesus' commandment to hate one's family in Luke 14:26 isn't about wanting to kill members of your family but about so centred on and so in love with Christ that by comparison, you hate everything else, even your closest.(The sound of a rooster crowing comes from somewhere down the hall. Someone sticks their head into my room.)
"Who made that rooster sound?"
"I'm not sure."
"I was just checking that somebody didn't deny Jesus three times or anything like that…"
"…"
"… otherwise they've got a heck of a performance review coming up."
In contrast to being foreigners and refugees in the world, coming together in community with other Christians who love the same people you love and have the same priorities as you is sheer bliss. Thank God for 1-2-1 meetings, bible study groups and services!
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