Utility

“And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?” (Mark 3:33)

As the prodigal son soon learned, people love you so long as you never require anything of them. When you make it known that you have a need, whether it be emotional, spiritual, financial, or otherwise, your so-called friends will prove to be false. Oh, they partied often to the break of dawn, most often at your expense. Greed loves a fool almost as much as misery loves company. Oh, when they needed you, you were there for them. Yet, they will never remember how you sacrificed to comfort and console them in the middle of the night when it seemed that no one else cared. They will not remember how welcome they were in your family’s home when you were young though, when you went to their parent’s house, you were never offered so much as a glass of water. They won’t remember how they called your mother to bail them out of jail instead of calling their own mother.

As soon as your utility has been exhausted in their lives, those folks who were once always at your side will scarcely give you a second thought. Such is the way of the world. However, I am called to be that friend which sticketh closer than a brother, who loves you unconditionally, who rejoices with you and mourns with you. When I have nothing to profit and yet I still keep in touch, then, my friend, you can come to certain educated conclusions about my character and my motives. I come to do the will of my Lord Jesus Christ even as He came to do the will of the Father. Jesus, “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” (Ephesians 2:21)

Am I believe that you love me when, clearly, faith without works is dead? The carnal mind cannot be expected to understand these things, and so, with loving hearts we pray for blind eyes to be opened until we all come into the fullness of understanding that is available in Christ our Lord. Does the sun not shine yet on the just and the unjust alike? Likewise is the blood of the Son of God available to all who will call upon His name in hope. Cain and Abel were, despite the atrocities of jealousy and murder, brothers by birth. We cannot erase the reality of our relationships as siblings, believers, countrymen, or human beings. Let those who have an ear hear what the Spirit is saying. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35) Let’s get it together, after all. We are all a part of God’s family, a family for which He gave His only begotten Son’s life to save and redeem.

“From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesian 4:16)

As they say in Jamaica, one love… Lord, make us one (John 17:21) even as you intend for husband and wife to become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). Let us be the body, the church, the love. In Jesus’ precious and matchless name, amen. Contact somebody now, and, if you really mean it, tell them that you love and appreciate them.



© 2011 Brian L Hunter