Ezra and I were sharing a yogurt with some granola at the island in the kitchen. Amelia wandered in from the back porch where she had been playing with clay. She climbed up on the kids’ bench at the end of the island and asked to try a bite. She tasted the spoonful I offered her and when I offered another taste, she said, “I don’t like it. I’m going back to my house.” “See you later,” I replied. “No, I’ll see you tomorrow.” she responded as she hopped down, walked to the porch door to return to her clay, then paused, hand on the knob. “What’s your name?” she asked.
Amelia is not confused or forgetful and my home is her home temporarily. Her entire family lives with me while they are building a house. She has an incredible imagination and she transitions easily between pretending and whatever else we’re doing. So in reply to her question, I simply said, “I’m Lolly.” “What’s his name?” she asked, nodding toward her baby brother. “That’s Ezra,” I answered. “Ok,” she said as she pulled the door to behind herself. Ezra looked up at me and smiled. “I Ezra Benjamin,” he said. “Are you pretending too?” I asked. He nodded happily, climbed down and followed his sister out the door.
Almost two year old Ezra learns so much from copying his sister so I remind her that as the big sister, God has given her a big job. I am the big sister too so I speak from experience. I remember feeling as if more was expected of me, as if I was being held to a higher standard. I am three years older than my sister and eight years older than my brother so of course, the age difference alone accounted for any perceived inequity but I know they were watching and learning from me too, though it probably didn’t fully dawn on me until I had children of my own.
I remember my sister asking to spend a weekend with me in my dorm during my freshman year of college. I think of my first date nights with Paul in my parents’ home watching movies after his closing shift at the IGA, the ones when my preteen brother would wander in from the kitchen, plop down next to us on the couch and reach for the snacks. I was there for their weddings and the births of their children and I saw them loving my kids even before having kids of their own. We still enjoy a closeness that is rare but more than that, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, members of God’s eternal family. I believe God puts us in families to prepare us to be the body of Christ. Each of us has a responsibility to the others, our brothers and sisters in God’s great family spanning time immemorial across nations and languages, especially to those behind us, making it all the more important for my faith to be rooted in Christ.
“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.
Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him.
Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”
Colossians 2:6-8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/col.2.6-8.NLT
“For the body is not one member, but many.
But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.
Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”
1 Corinthians 12:14, 18, 27 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/1co.12.14-27.NASB1995
We are not the first and we will not be the last to receive the message of the gospel and the free gift of salvation in Christ but we are, with every generation before us and every one to come until Christ returns, tasked with carrying forward the message of the cross. As we were the recipients of this good news, so we offer it willingly and freely. I am eternally grateful for all those who shared the life giving words of Christ with me until those seeds planted germinated under the watchful care of the Holy Spirit and I became a new creation.
“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me.
Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.
He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1co.15.3-4.NLT
“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.”
Hebrews 13:7 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/heb.13.7.NASB1995
“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.
The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.”
3 John 1:11 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/3jn.1.11.NASB1995
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
Ephesians 5:1-2 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/eph.5.1-2.NASB1995
“May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”
2 Thessalonians 3:5 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/2th.3.5.NASB1995
“Speak kindly to your brother, please,” I reminded Amelia, not for the first time today. Where tug of war had ensued, when she rephrased her request, Ezra immediately loosened his grip, smiled, handed over the object of the scuffle and went back to his playing. I can give her the command but she is much more apt to follow if she sees me doing the same. When I speak kindly to her, when I phrase my requests respectfully, when I value what she is saying by holding eye contact, I am teaching her far more than what I tell her. Paul says as much to the Corinthian believers. “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) Following Jesus means being constantly formed into His image by the power of His Holy Spirit at work in me. “You are not your own. God bought you with such a high price.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20) Surrender everything in every way for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of eternity, yours and theirs!
“Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Philippians 2:12-13 NLT
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