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The Need for Families..
Devotional Thought of the Day:
21 Submit yourselves to one another because of your reverence for Christ. 1 Children, it is your Christian duty to obey your parents, for this is the right thing to do. 2 “Respect your father and mother” is the first commandment that has a promise added: 3 “so that all may go well with you, and you may live a long time in the land.” 4 Parents, do not treat your children in such a way as to make them angry. Instead, raise them with Christian discipline and instruction. Ephesians 5:21, 6:1-4 (TEV)
19 Be grateful to your parents for bringing you into this world, thus enabling you to become a child of God. And be all the more grateful if it was they who placed in your soul the first seeds of faith and piety, of your Christian way, or of your vocation. (1)
Later this week, my mom and I will take a day and just get away. It will be one year since my dad passed, and the grief and loss that we feel may indeed well up inside of us. So I have been thinking of family a lot recently. This morning I came across St Josemaria’s quote you just read in my devotions, All over the news o that the brokenness of some famous athletes’ families recently aired out in front of the world, and an odd comment on facebook recently, sparked off this blog.
The comment this morning that struck me as odd, was the reference to the Virgin Mary as simply a “vessel”, nothing more, nothing less. It struck me as pragmatic and lifeless, and against the very idea of family as taught in the scripture. For no mother is simply a vessel, a holding place for life for 9 months.
God designed us to be part of families, and while many are dysfunctional… no wait, all are dysfunctional because of sin, that doesn’t mean we should devalue them. Yet that is what we allow. Mother’s are reduced to vessels, and holding tanks. Father’s are thought unnecessary, and of little value. Children are tossed aside, before and after they are born. Siblings are made to think that rivalry is the norm, rather than a loving family.
This isn’t new – you can’t read scripture without seeing the brokenness of families, and directions about how things really should be. Directions that are critical to be really heard, and by that I mean the scriptural meaning of hear – to absorb and let affect and transform you. This is not just something that we can take as what theologians call adiaphora, it is not optional. Nor is it it simply environmental or biological. As an adopted child, I have met my birth mother, and much of who I am, I see in her. As well, I see a lot of my adopted parents as well.
It is the relationship of family, even if we struggle with it.
The reason this is critical is simple. The family is an image of our relationship with God. He is our loving Father, our merciful Brother. We are all siblings, whether we note the relationship, or not.
Frequently, we take the image of family that we know, our broken, confused, dysfunctional families, and those we see, and project them onto our relationship with God. It becomes a fight for who is wiser, or who is in control, who is the authority, who has the rights. And we treat God like we treat our parents, our children, our brothers and sisters.
If instead of projecting on God’s family what we know from dysfunctional experiences, we let it work the other way?
We would honor our parents, praying for them, hearing them.
We would sacrifice for our family, the way Jesus did for us, knowing that in love, no sacrifice is too great for those who are in His family.
We would value the people God has given us, parents, children, siblings in our families, and in our church families.
We would seek those who are part of this family, yet don’t know it… yet.
We would love.
Lord Have mercy as we worship and love you, as we embrace our families in love.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 304-306). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
A Christian’s Attitude Toward Government? Optional?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 Peter 2:11-17 (MSG) 11 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. 12 Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives. 13 Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; 14 they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. 15 It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. 16 Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. 17 Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.
Titus 3:1-2 (MSG) 1 Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand 2 No insults, no fights. God’s people should be bighearted and courteous.
Yesterday, because of our government’s way of doing business, the government is starting to shut down. Lots of political debating is going on, lots of blame games, lots of finger pointing. I sort of expect that, it is the way the world works, when it is based in competition.
What I do not get, is the role I see many followers of Jesus taking in this battle. Not that I think we shouldn’t be advocates for that which si righteous. Or that we can’t, during such times, find ourselves on opposite points of view, because of that which lies close to our hearts. (For example – one side is very concerned about the unborn – a nobel cause.. and the other is very concerned about the poor and elderly – also a nobel cause )
But what bothers me is the rancor, the hatred and mockery that spills out of us at such times. That we become diabolical in the truest sense of the word – throwing mud and accusations in the worst possible construction towards those we oppose. ( see my sermon on Spiritual Warfare for more understanding of diabolical) We literally and literarily try to destroy our opponents. We call them names – make accusations, assume their insincerity and basically make this a war of good and evil- and assume we stand for good.
Which is simply bullshit. (Pardon my americanese)
Look at the passages above – where Paul and Peter urge us to respect and work with those who are leaders – knowing our behavior reflects on who it is we claim to trust (have faith in.) There is no option there for belittling, slandering and gossipping about those in authority. Can we oppose them respectfully? Can we pray for them, encourage them, lift them up?
Can we imitate Christ, and Peter and Paul, and those who followed in their steps – knowing something that is more important than who is to blame?
For example – who took all the blame on Himself?
You see – our political statments reveal ultimately who we have faith in, who we trust. Our publicly displayed rancor and anger reveals a hurt of being betrayed. It is not only a statement that we feel our government broke trust with us, but a statement that we have lost sight of our God in whom we trust, a God who promised all things – even those things we mean for evil – will work out for good.
We are to trust in God above all things – above all people, above all government.
It’s about Jesus, remember?
I’ll leave you with the thoughts of the Pslams.
Psalm 2:1-12 (NLT) 1 Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? 2 The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one. 3 “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.” 4 But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury. 6 For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.” 7 The king proclaims the LORD’s decree: “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father. 8 Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession. 9 You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.’” 10 Now then, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth! 11 Serve the LORD with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities— for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him!
Related articles
- What you need to know about Spiritual Warfare… (justifiedandsinner.com)
