A New Home

In the summer of 1968 my family moved. It was the first of many moves I would experience in life. For the first eleven years of my life, home had been in the little frame house with the big yard. Now it would be the big brick house with the very small yard. It took some time to get used to the new place. Since we moved again five years later; I cannot say that I ever felt completely at home in the brick house. In the last 43 years, Chery and I have lived in 16 different houses (in five U.S. states and five other countries). It is not always easy to feel at home. In some of these places we never did feel at home.

I mention this for a simple, practical and spiritual reason. The church is called the household or family of God (Gal 6:10; Eph 2:19; 1 Tim 3:15; 1 Pet 4:17). Some people who have been in the church for a long time feel that it really is. But for some, when they first come to Christ, it takes a while to feel at home with the church. For some, the world has been their home, their biological family has been their family, and they do not feel comfortable with their new brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember, it takes time to feel at home.

Those who have been in the church a long time, and who feel at home here, must learn to reach out to newcomers and try to help them feel at home. I think that we do a pretty good job of that at Flanders Road, but let’s stay alert for anyone who seems to not feel at home. Let’s try to help them.

Those who are new to the congregation must realize that it may take some time to feel at home. Do not be unreasonable in your expectations. The new brick house seemed strange to me after all my previous life had been spent in the little frame house. But mom and dad, grandma and grandpa were there, so I tried to think of it as home. [Some days I wished that we had left my brother and sisters behind at the old house – but that is another story for another time.]

The church is God’s household. Because he accepts people by grace, we have members in this family who are far from perfect. Sometimes we might get on one another’s nerves a little, but out of respect for our heavenly Father, we learn to get along. For the most part we enjoy one another’s company. Little by little we begin to feel at home; and that is good. The Father’s plan is for us to be together forever; so it is good if we learn to think of the church as our family, our real home.

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50, ESV).