I was preparing to meet with my associate
counselor last night, and happened to be sitting in the lobby. It was a Wednesday
night, and people were filtering in for the evening service.
Suddenly, I saw
something a bit uncharacteristic, but somehow not all that surprising. Our
youth pastor, and another guy embraced, and kissed one another on the lips. Now
I’m just not used to seeing that, among men (though it is very common in some
foreign countries.)
But it so happens
that these two men are brothers. One is the biological child of his parents.
One is the adopted child of the same parents.
It reminds me of
scriptural reference to being “grafted in.” Paul speaks of the Jewish and
Gentile nations, and how that it was no great task for God to graft the wild
olive branch into the domestic olive tree.
Like two brothers,
the two nations were given the opportunity to commune together, and call
Abraham their father. And while the “I AM” predicted that eventual blending of
the nations, the two brothers remain at odds; oblivious of their fate.
The concept of
“brotherly love” is a bit foreign to me. My brothers and I do not spend time
together, though we are all “local.” As much a year may go by. If we “run into
each other,” it’s at my parents’ house. I cannot, in my wildest dreams, imagine
hugging and kissing one of my brothers; (so much like the current condition of
the Jewish and Gentile nations.)
The two brothers
in my initial illustration might serve as a role model for my brothers and I,
as well as for the two nations.
By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Unconventional Devotions" Copyright 2005
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