1 Timothy 3:14-15
Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
The church is the household of God. What is a household or home? Home is where we can let ourselves relax. In our busy work outside every day, we have many heavy burdens. We are forced to wear a mask to deal with others and we need to watch what we say. When we come home, we can always breathe easier and don't need to wear a mask anymore. Home is where we can be our "true self". We can share our sorrows, joys, and burdens. In the same way, when we are in God's family, we can learn to share our thoughts and feelings with each other and share in each other's burdens. After a week filled with busyness, hard work, burdens, and pressures, you can take a break from the pace of life when you come to church or to the fellowship group. You can sit down and share the true feelings from your heart.
Sometimes we have joyful things in our hearts but we are too shy to share, or we have heavy burdens in our hearts but we are too polite to talk about them because we are afraid to inconvenience others. In the church, you ask me, "How are you?" and I say, "I'm fine". I ask you, "How are you?" and you also say, "I'm fine". But in reality, both persons are not fine! Of course I'm not saying that in all things you need to share your needs whenever you see someone. But I hope you can find a small group or a couple of trusted people in church to share with each other. You need to learn to open up yourself, to share with them things in your life and your difficulties. When we are willing to open up, then we can truly understand what Christ meant when he said, "love one another".
Otherwise, you don't know my needs and I don't know your needs. You wear a mask and I wear a mask. Then how can we love each other? Even though we say we are "brothers and sisters", but there's no feeling of being in a family. This is what we lack! If the church is not like God's household, how can we expect more gospel friends to come into our midst? So what should we do? Very simply it is to put aside your pride, your shyness, politeness, and start to share your life, difficulties, and joys with others. To share with others and to share each other's burdens are very infectious. If you just start, you will find others will start to open up and to share with you. Let us learn together the lesson of opening up, then the church will start to have the "home" feel!
Pray with Pastor Tong
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