I am an only child; my husband is an only child and we have one son. Family size varies enormously, but as children, we have no choice in whether we have siblings or not. (Sometimes, even as parents, we have little choice in how many children we have!) For many, however, they have no experience of being an only child; they have never known what that is like, not being the eldest in their family.
It’s interesting to ponder how much we are influenced by the expereince of being an only child or having siblings, but the fact remains that ‘no Christian is an only child.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘The Journey’, P 159) We are born again into a family, the family of God. Whilst our relationship with God is personal, we belong also to a community of faith, which God likes to family. (Ps 133:1)
Often, people want a relationship with God without the baggage of family. People – even Christians! – let us down. We argue and fall out. We are frustrated by our differences and don’t like having to compromise, to share, to put others first. But God’s commandments to love include not only love for Him, but for our neighbours too (Matt 22:39, Lev 19:18).
We have no choice about our earthly siblings; we can’t ‘pick’ our family members. We also have no choice about our Christian siblings. God decides who is part of the church; we don’t! (see 1 Cor 12:18, 27) Sometimes we are glad about that; sometimes, we wish He’d send X somewhere else! But life becomes less complicated when we are willing to deal with reality as it is, and there is great blessing in learning to love each other as Christ loves us – and blessing as a result of living together as family in unity.