Peace in the Family
In one of my recent messages at church, we covered my life verse, “But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). In that message I suggested eight aspects to “grow up” in our life and was challenged by a dear one to do a blog on each, this is the last one. Good relationships with my family at home and church.
We yelled at our house when I was growing up. One of my memories was of Mom really letting us have it in the kitchen and the phone would ring and Mom sweetly answer, “Hello, yes!” And my sister and I burst into uproarious laughter which Mom didn’t like very well. And no matter what kind of trouble we were in, in the car on the way to church, we were angelic when we walked in the door. Yeah, I know that everyone’s favorite thing in the culture is all Christians are hypocrites, right? Well, people yell at one another on the way to school, work, or soccer practice, too. The problem is not the church’s fault, and it is certainly not unique to Christians.
Keep in mind, the purpose of these eight weeks of blogs is to have us think through aspects we need to grow up to be like Christ. We cannot write off anyone until we ourselves are entirely consistent and (surprise, surprise) no one is, this side of heaven. So could we grow in this area? You know we can, that is the power of faith in Christ.
I want to take one little tangent here. I have heard a couple of copouts I would like to address. One is, “My parents dragged me to church” or “I have to fight my kids to get them to go to church”. I often ask people who say they were “dragged” is the problem the church, or how your parents acted? You know the answer. Truth is, Dad and Mom did not want to go either, and the kids knew it. As far as “fight my kids”, my Dad did have the solution to that, he wouldn’t fight, it was simply, “it’s what we do” and was not open to question. In our house fighting was the problem no matter what day it was, and I think we all knew we needed church.
But if we are truly to grow up in our faith and be like Christ, the place to start is in the family. The place to start, as always is with God. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 were words that they not only taught, but put in a Mezuzah on the doorpost. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates”.
In our home, God is in charge, we will love Him and obey Him, and His ways will be the things we put into practice. It starts with Dad and Mom doing it and passing it on. The teaching is not necessarily a structured thing, notice it is part of all of the events of life. See why having the family in church is important? When church is the last choice among many options, see why kids fight you? Why should we do that? Not just because Dad and Mom say so, but because they want it too.
As he was in his last days, Joshua said something to the people of Israel, he had made a decision. “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Maybe we know we’ve been wishy washy about following God, not just in making a priority of church, but in the way we act at home. Maybe it is time to draw a line like Joshua did, to sit down as a family and say, together, we’re going to grow up and be like Christ. It is no longer optional in our home.
