Change the world - what does that phrase bring to mind? A well in Africa? Coats for orphans? Bibles to China?
Those are all great things, but would it shock you if I said that you should focus on your family first?
God has placed you with a group of people. This group of people is not the poor in Africa or the orphans in Russia or the believers in China. Though those are all good causes, we need to first make sure that we are following God's will where we are: in our homes.
How does our world view the family?
Think about that for a moment. Then answer the next question:
How does God view the family? What should a family look like?
Then comes the final question:
Is this the way Christian families are behaving?
The world's philosophies have a tendency to creep into the Christian worldview. Unfortunately, the culture sees the family as a group of people forced to live together. Many families today are victim to many of the sins mentioned in the Bible: envy and jealosy, complaining, arguing, disrespect, impatience, selfishness, and a lack of love. How do I know? God has blessed me with a great family, but I've heard plenty of things from other people whose families are suffering from this "me-me-me" mindset. One sure sign that God values something is when it comes under spiritual attack, and the family is one of the things God has great value for. Accordingly, it is under attack today.
I don't think the family is much more important, but I do agree that our role should be to our family first, and then to Jesus by spreading the gospel. But the world does need help, and each of every one of us can share!
ReplyDeleteYou know, you're right. When I re-read the post, I realized that the wording wasn't quite right. What I meant was that we shouldn't be so focused on ministering to people in other countries that we totally scrap our family relationships.
ReplyDeleteI'll change that :)
Thanks for your comment!!
~Ruth ;)