EPHESIANS 2:19

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.

TO PONDER

There is a difference between living as a guest in someone else's house and living in a place that you can call home.

There was a period of time before we moved away from Canberra for me to commence study at Australian Lutheran College and become a pastor, where Elsie and I moved out of our rental accomodation in Canberra and moved in for almost a month with Elise's parents.

They were wonderful, generous hosts and did everything they could to help and support us in the transition from life as a double income family in Canberra to a welfare dependent student family in Adelaide. However, even though Elise was their daughter, and I - through marriage - was also a family member (part of the household to use the Bible language) it didn't feel like home. We knew the arrangement was temporary, we didn't settle in or get comfortable because we knew we would be moving on to whatever God had in store for us next.

Maybe that's what get's us out of whack with one another in this life. perhaps we too easily forget, even as Christians, that this world is not really our home. We belong to the household of God and our actual permanent address is with him in his kingdom for eternity. But while we are here in this life, it's easy to forget that this life is not all there is. So we can fall into bickering with one another over all the kinds of 'silly' things that housemates sharing a temporary living situation can find themselves arguing over. Things like whose turn it is to clean the dishes, or who left the dirty socks on the floor.

What Paul is getting at here is that the point is not laying blame or pointing out differences, but that as members of the same household, we just need to make sure the dishes get done and the laundry gets washed. Bickering about who has to do it or how someone does it differently is beside the point. Because the ultimate truth of this situation is simply this, when we fail at something, we are part of Jesus' household and he has already promised to address the mistakes we make and also the mistakes of those who we share this life with, so there really is nothing to argue about.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, sometimes family can be the hardest people to get along with. As your people, we have not always been good at loving one another and getting along. Please help me to see past the things that make me different from others and help me to see the part of them that is made in your image. Help me to learn to value and treasure the good in those who cross my path and to help them feel welcome and accepted into your household (family) Amen.

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.