Have you ever taken a few seconds to look around at the people with whom you worship? If not, the next time you are gathered for a time of congregational worship, take a moment to look around. Let your eyes take a survey of those gathered – think about what you know about them, individually. What is their background, their family make-up, their job, the number of people in the family, etc.?

Then, after a quick glance around, think about the fact that you are all together, in your place of worship, lifting your voices together in worship through song, uniting your hearts together in times of prayer, giving attention to the message being preached by your pastor. During that time together, you are as one – one body of believers, united in spirit and truth. You are seeking the same thing – the presence of the living Lord. You are desirous of the same thing – that the will of God would be done – right then, right there.

But as you take this cursory glance around, you also detect that, even though you are one in worship, in prayer, in desire, you are also very different from one another. Different backgrounds, different levels of education attainment, different career choices, living in different neighborhoods, with different preferences that drive you to make different choices.

So, as you look around, what is it that has brought you together, in that worship center, united as one in seeking the Lord? Why are you there? In that particular place? With those particular people? What is the driving force, the determining factor, that has brought you all together?

Then, think about the original twelve disciples. They were such a diverse group of individuals. At least four of them were fishermen. One was a tax collector. One, a political activist. The Bible doesn’t tell us the occupation of the others, but we can assume there were several other occupations among the remaining disciples.

Can you imagine some of the conversations they must have had? Can you picture a tax collector and a political activist being in the same room? Simon the zealot would have despised Matthew the tax collector. Simon would never have been a companion of someone who collected taxes for Rome, and yet there they were, following Jesus. For over three years they invested their lives together with a single focus: Jesus.

When you gaze around at your fellow worshipers, think of the diversity – the many, many differences you can think of. Then, think of the one common denominator: Jesus. It is Jesus who has brought you together. Chances are that you would never have any relationship with them outside of your worship of the Lord Jesus. Now, you love spending time together. You enjoy times of worship, times of fellowship, times of ministry and service. Why? Because of Jesus – He is the uniting factor.

What a powerful testimony to the reality of being changed through the new birth. We actually become part of a family – a huge, universal family made up of every person who has a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are now brothers and sisters in the family of faith. But then, we are also members of a local congregation of believers. It is there that we develop intimate relationships. It is there that we enjoy times of corporate worship. It is there that we enjoy ministry, fellowship, service – in short, we enjoy doing life together.

Let’s not take this family relationship for granted. It has to be nurtured, cultivated, developed through times of family gatherings. Take time to thank God for your faith family. Call members by name as you pray. Seek God’s guidance for each member, and also for the whole.

Enjoy one another, learn from one another, be encouraged by one another, love one another, carry one another’s burdens, laugh with one another, cry with one another. In short, be family. We all need each other to become all that God desires for us as individual family members, as well as a family unit.