Applying the Gospel to everyday family life.

This is one of those things in life that sounds easy. Even practical. Why, then, is it so hard? Like most things, it takes practice. Specifically, it requires your intentional attention and your heart. Once your heart has been touched by the power and compassion of understanding Christ as your Savior and Lord you will have an underlying desire to hear what the gospel has to say in every area of your life…especially your family!

How does the Gospel & the life that Jesus Christ lived and then died intersect with my own life in this situation?

God did not remain distant from His creation even though He is the Creator.  He left what was perfect and without sin in order to enter into the brokenness of creation and engage with the struggles that man is facing [John 6:38].  In the same way, God is calling me not to sit back and simply be an observer of the brokenness of my family, but to engage with their struggles and enter into their lives in a compassionate way.

When Jesus came to life as Immanuel living among His sinful and wicked creation, He did not join in the depravity but rather brought a confident Truth that God the Father was sovereign, good, and capable of doing all things.  Jesus interacted with sinners to help them see the way they were living was in rebellion to God.  Jesus patiently explained that there were two ways to live life…in the flesh and in the Spirit [Galatians 5:16-17], and that sinners had no hope of living a “good” life apart from a righteousness given to them by God.  In a similar way, I am to bring the truth of God’s compassionate love to my family compassionately showing them the wickedness of the way that they are living.  I help them see that there are two ways of living their lives…through the flesh according to their own selfish desires, or through the power of the Holy Spirit given to them by God in order to bring glory to God through their words and actions.   I remind them that without continuing to surrender their lives to Christ at the cross, they are without the desire and ability to live in a way that is honoring to God.  But when they DO surrender their lives and hearts to Christ, Jesus will give them both the desire and the ability to be slaves to righteousness instead of slaves to sin [Romans 6:15-23].

God lives outside of time and space, but He entered into time and space through becoming our Savior Jesus.  Jesus maintained his focus on the larger story that God was telling through creation/fall/redemption/glorification so that His perspective was one of “eternity” [John 5:24, John 17:3] and thinking the “thoughts above” [Colossians 3:1-2].  While Jesus did interact with the circumstances around Him, His focus was clearly on the greater prize of eternity with God the Father in Heaven [Hebrews 12:2].  Likewise, I need to remember for myself that the present disaster of circumstance is not my immediate focus, but simply a distraction from my greater focus on eternity with God and the beautiful story He is unfolding through His creation.  This current dispute between family members is only temporary, and I can intercede in this conflict to remind everyone involved that our true hope for joy and happiness is not in changing these immediate circumstances, but in our eternal future with God.

[A wife might say to herself] God has called me, in His sovereignty and goodness, to be a Godly wife and a Godly mother.  He has entrusted me with this husband and these children.  Therefore I can have confidence that God knows exactly what He was doing when he designed each one of my family members in the strengths, weaknesses, character, and sinful proclivities that each possess.  I also know that God has given me the Holy Spirit to give me wisdom and discernment.  Therefore, I will patiently, and calmly approach these individual family members in the same way that my Savior Jesus has engaged with me:  with kindness, patience, compassion, and empathy.  I will listen to their stories and weep with the struggles that they are each having [Romans 12:15].  I will be more concerned about their individual relationships with their Savior rather than the personal offense that I am feeling inside.  I will help point each of them to the grace and mercy that God is extending to them in this situation (and in the past!), and help them see that Jesus is also there for them in this particular situation, and He is calling for them to be humble and lay down their “rights” at the cross in order to bring peace to the family.  I will remind them that peace between family members is way more important to God than it will ever be to us as we are called to love in action beyond the feelings that we have in this situation.  And I will model kindness, humility, and forgiveness to my family members as I lead them to repentance [Romans 2:4].

Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?