"getting busted" and siblings

At the last minute, I decided to let everyone watch the Nooma video Lump (7/29/07). Nooma is a video series by Rob Bell, a pastor of a very fast growing church near Grand Rapids, MI. His authenticity in his pastoring and writing has made him very popular. In fact, he's going on a national tour. I hope to see him when he's in Chicago in November. Each Nooma video is 10-15 minutes long and focuses on one idea. His combination of personal stories and scripture is very appealing. At some point, we will probably go through the whole series (there are around 20 of them thus far).

Lump is about letting one's sins catch up to them. Sooner or later, we all get busted for what we do. Eventually, they rise to the surface. There was a time in the Book of Acts when a couple got busted. Acts 5:1-11 tells the story of a couple named Ananias and Sapphira. This happens right after Acts tells us that everyone sold what they had and pooled all their money together, dividing it out to the community of believers as needed. Ananias and Sapphira held out on everyone and suffered fatally for it. I admit- an extreme form of "getting busted," but it still drives home the point that the sins you hide will eventually surface.

The video also focused on actions of Rob Bell's oldest son. One of the son's actions was toward his younger brother, which was how we went into a discussion about siblings. This proved to be a very popular topic! It looks like I'll be doing a series on siblings in the bible for the rest of summer! After the video, I asked questions about their siblings and times that the youth got busted. The point that I was getting at can be found in Romans 8:38-39. After Rob Bell and his wife busted their son, he went hiding up in their bedroom under the sheets. Rob went up to him and told him that there is nothing that he could do that would make them love him less. I believe this is God's feelings towards us. Yes, there will be times when parents need to yell at their kids, or times when God will allow trials to happen to us to refine us. But even when he sin and disappoint Him, He will not love us less.

Nothing can separate us from His love. I pray that we keep that in mind as parents, children, siblings, and most importantly, God's children.