I wanted to write this blog to simply the story of my parents and I. I wanted to share of the wonder that has taken place within our relationship by the grace of God. I think it is often easy to write of a story of redemption and reconciliation without understanding the support of the gospel itself. I think that in the gospels Jesus gives us a beautiful picture of how recreated relationships come about, and what they look like. God had in mind something more glorious than we could have ever imagined when he created us in the image of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
My story begins when I was a senior in high school. I became a Christian at the beginning of this school year and was seventeen years old at the time. My parents and I had a good relationship before this, even though here and there we experienced some bumps and bruises(as most relationships do when in the teenage stage). Little did I know that in receiving Christ’s free gift, God would reveal what had been building in my heart for many years-that being pride leading to a superiority complex and judgmental attitude. Only now do I realize this; that God was working in my sin, to recreate it into something I could not take credit for. Proverbs says that he who slanders reveals secrets and this is exactly what God did through my scoffing heart.
I was on the eve of a continual war with my parents for that year. I thank God that he was working in me despite my sin and even in the midst of this seeming tragedy. I continued to judge them for things I did not understand, and our relationship eventually turned into a hostile one.
Only now am I able to comprehend all of this now that I am able to witness the continual mending God is doing within our relationship.
I understand (as many Christians do) that we were created for relationships, this is obvious. We were also created for a particular form of relationships-namely one’s that reflect the glory of our God. When we sinned our relationships along with all creation was fractured in the purpose that they were fashioned to fulfill. In Jesus, our relationship with God is redeemed, and thus our relationships with others have what they need to experience redemption.
This brings us to the question; how do these relationships come about? Relationships, as they were meant to be, come into existence through living under the rule and reign of Christ. This concept seems so simple. Only when one has claimed Christ as Lord and Savior can we see redemption and reconciliation-first in our relationship with God, and then physical relationships. When we yield to Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we begin to experience Christ in us, thus new life and new relationships.
Relationships under the rule and reign of Christ are to be as Jesus prayed in John 17. He prayed that we may be one even as he is one. The trinity is where we begin to learn what redeemed relationship is to model. The trinity in its purity is the image we were created in and created to reflect in relationship. The trinity is the ultimate illustration of unity, and this is merely one facet of the relationships we were meant to have.
My parents an I have grown so much together, and I enjoy the newness of our relationship. Thankful to God for his apparent faithfulness in all this.
Poiema 