The word family has taken new meaning for me over the years. I’ve learned that it’s one of the most powerful words you can use. When a family member dies, you begin to feel some of the power the word holds. When a family member walks away from the rest of the family, you begin to understand the power that word holds. When you lose all your family, it can be devastating.
Ultimately, the believer has a much bigger family. I often think we don’t look at the believing remnant of the people of God as family. At least we don’t treat each other like that most of the time. The natural family is talked about greatly in the Word of God. In the Old Testament, God would pass blessing and chastisement down from the father to the sons in a family. How we provide for our family is talked about at great length. Natural fathers were to educate their sons, and mothers were to educate their daughters according to scripture.
The loss of family is now discussed as playing a role in forming our culture. A child with no present father in the home will have difficulties that will manifest in many areas of their life. The government is attempting to redefine even the responsibilities of family. The education system is now saying your children belong to us, not the parents, in terms of their education. The problem is the education system is now forming a culture not based on truth in our children.
When you have children, and they walk away from your life, there is something missing inside of you at that point. When the prodigal left home, the father let him go, but he looked every day, according to the scriptures, for the son to return home. The prodigal returned. When he returned, he was coming to more than just a place to live. He was even coming home to more than just the presence of his father. He was coming home to a way of living life. He was coming home to the instruction he had received from his father.
Recently I had an experience that changed me. I’m sad about it in some ways and filled with excitement in other ways. I walked into my wife’s parent’s home, and something supernaturally occurred. I felt this sense of belonging I had never felt before. There is a lot to the back story that would fill a book of its own that I can’t get into in this article. But this sense of belonging I recognized as what the bible calls brotherly love. For the first time, I knew a had a family. This has fundamentally changed me. Now when I walk into our church's fellowship, that is how I look at the people there. They are family. I feel the responsibility to them in a real spiritual way. A sense of belonging is a powerful tool in the hands of God to form a body of believers to be able to walk out our faith in these last days.
In every way, the bible sets the construct of our relationship with God and each other as a family. The most intimate thing we can share with each other is to gather around our father and worship together. The interchange that occurs is more of the impartation of the Father in us to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. There is nothing more intimate than that. That’s why worshipping together as a natural family is so important to the dynamic of a successful family. Working in the kingdom as a natural family will only strengthen the spiritual dynamic of the power of God in your life.
We seem to want to help our children navigate their way through this life, but how much time are we spending trying to help them through the difficulties that are attacking their spirit and dragging them away from the things God has imparted to us? Because of this sense of belonging, what we do affects those we belong to, and what they do affects us. The only way to be a functional family is to interact on the basis that we are a FAMILY.
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