Happy Families!! - 19th October
“Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord” Colossians 3:20
“If a widow has children or grandchildren, these should first of all put their religion into practice by caring for their own family .. for this is pleasing to the Lord” 1Timothy 5:4
Obeying and looking after our parents seems to bring particular pleasure to God. However I’m sure it’s not just to our parents that this love and care are to be shown. It is our families that we relax with; it’s also them that we can be most impatient with, unkind to or unsympathetic towards.
The danger with verses about family relationships is that we can often excuse ourselves by narrowing the definition, perhaps to only the members of our family we live with, or not really honouring our parents once we ourselves are grown up. Or we go the opposite way and extend the boundaries to the whole of our church family and then neglect our biological family whilst we care for our Christian family.
Both are important to God. He really is pleased when we have good relationships with each other. When we learn to love, care for and respect each other God is very pleased.
Talk through your family with God today. Are there any relationships God wants you to work on, any phone calls or letters that need attention. Let your definition range as wide or narrow as God takes you and commit to working at the family relationships God brings to your heart and mind. | 