Family Values

With all of the ballyhoo of modern Christianity regarding ‘family values,’ I thought it might be interesting to temper some of that with some of the family values that Jesus demonstrated and taught. When he was twelve years old he stayed behind at Jerusalem while his parents and their friends and relatives went a days’ journey; they not knowing that he had stayed. Upon returning to Jerusalem and finding him in the temple, they scolded him for what they thought to be negligence on his part; but he merely said, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Lk. 2:49). Once when he was ministering, someone told him that his mother and brethren wanted to see him outside. His answer? “And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it” (Lk. 8:21). When he called his twelve apostles together and instructed them, he layed down some things that might make some ‘family values’ enthusiasts shudder: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Mat. 10:34-37). These sayings of Jesus are surely worthy of godly fear my friend.

Be assured that if you truly follow the Spirit of God where it leads and in what it teaches, that does in no way guarantee that anyone is going to follow suit with you. And God will certainly try your heart with those close to you, to see if his favor is worthy of the persecution, in your estimation. Once Jesus told a man to follow him, and the man asked permission to first bury his recently deceased father. Seems like a reasonable request, doesn’t it? Jesus answered the man and said, “Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead” (Mat. 8:22). And again, when many were following him, walking to a certain place, “he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk.14:25,26). Now understand that the word ‘hate’ here means to prefer over, meaning to prefer God over anyone. I can also assure you that anyone who can truly and rightly prefer God over their family, loves their family more than anyone else possibly could. These are things that you’re just not going to hear very often, but that is only because there are few who actually realize the truth and soberness of these kinds of sayings. Remember also it was Jesus who said all of these things, and I am fully persuaded that there is no one who loves anyone as much as he does. If we do not love our family members, then I’m certain that we are “worse than an infidel” (I Tim. 5:8). Nonetheless, it is needful that we understand the love of God, that it is holy and without partiality; neither does it respect or prefer the persons of men over doing God’s will, regardless of who they are. This is how Jesus thinks, and this is how the mind of Christ thinks in those who have it. Amen.