Thoughts on Being a{n} {Older} Sister...

This morning, before I even got out of bed, before I even read my Bible, I lay there, reflecting on how not nice, on how selfish as a sister I had been to my youngest brother last night.

Oh sure, he had fun. I wasn’t that bad he told me when I had apologized. After all, I wasn’t being “mean” to him in his eyes, because this is the way he is used to me acting.

But I know better. L

Even if he does not, I do. L

Lately, I’ve been behaving like that. Not being Christ’s hands and feet to my younger brothers and sisters; not “investing” in their lives; not taking an interest in the things that interest them. I thought of my little brother Nathan (yesterday was his birthdayJ) and of how unwilling I have been to do anything with him lately. How long I made him wait to play the computer with me last night. L

Why?

Because I simply did not want to! I simply did not feel like it at the time! I often have “more important things to do”, or the things that he wants to do are not as important in my mind as what I want or legitimately need (such as dishes, ironing, Sunday school lesson, etc.) to do!

 I thought of Bethie, my little sister too.

How happy would it make them—how surprised they would be! —If when they asked to do something with me or asked to use my computer if I simply smiled at them and enthusiastically said, “Sure!!” J

I then thought of Hebrews 4:15 which says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

I thought of how Jesus has experienced everything (every temptation) that I have had. Every temptation. Like the temptation to brush aside as unimportant—or not as important—the desires of my younger brothers and sisters.

I wonder, did Jesus ever not want to play with His younger brothers or sisters?

I wonder if Jesus was ever tempted to deem as unimportant, to see as annoying and frustrating, the desires of His young siblings. The desires they had to play with their older Brother. I wonder if He was tempted to think “aw… I’m too busy right now”—even legitimately, perhaps when He was assisting Joseph in carpentry or something of that nature. I wonder if He ever ‘suffered’ with the knowledge that He needed to be selfless and acquiesce to the pleas of His younger brothers and sisters to “play with me!”, to invest in their lives by stooping “to their level” (wow; how pompous does that sound!!? L) and spend time with them—whether or not He WANTED TO!?!?!?!?!?

The Bible tells me

The Bible tells you

That He did.

…{and} yet without sin…

I realize that back in Bible times and even currently in the Middle East the customs and culture was TOTALLY different from what it is today or here in the West. I realize that this would have fallen more/mostly under that category of “keeper at home” and as a woman’s job and domain.

Yet…

How many times do you think Jesus got down on His knees anyway, even as a young masculine man of His later teen and early adult years, and played with, loved on, and cuddled those messy toddlers; Those rambunctious nine-year-olds? I wonder how often He played “Roman soldier”, “prophet”, “warrior”, or “King of Jerusalem” with his little brother, even if it seemed (and was for all practical purposes) ‘pointless’ at the time.

The Bible tells us Jesus loved the children later in life—during the public years of His ministry. So why not before hand? Before the Scripture indicates that He did?

Since we miss out on a written portion of His life from about age twelve to age thirty, we tend not to think about these things, but it only seems natural that if He loved them so much then—enough to publicly rebuke His disciples for trying to send them away—enough to publicly take them in His arms and speak with them and bless them, something many people probably thought did not enhance His “Prophetic image”—if He loved them so much during this public time of His ministry, does it not only stand to reason that He would have cuddled and played with children during the years of which the Bible is silent? Would not He have been lavishing love on children during His ‘formative’ years?

And has not Christ left you and I an example that we should “follow in His steps”? (1 Peter 2:21)

If Jesus face the temptations of this sort, and yet, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, He overcame them and invested in the precious lives of His younger brothers and sisters, SHOULD I NOT DO SO IN THE LIVES OF MINE?

SHOULD WE as older sisters NOT DO THE SAME IN THE LIVES OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS???

We have unspeakable and unrealized influence in their lives and great opportunity to take advantage of it (in a Godly way, of course! J) Let us seek to influence them for Christ, by His enabling power, and with pure and Godly motives!!!

Press on, Sisters! J