[271 words]
When I was a young youth minister, a fellow with which I served had a young wife. It was disappointing to the congregation and devastating to the preacher when he returned home from a long day at work to discover that his wife had packed up nearly everything of value in the house, emptied their joint banking account, and left him to take up with another man.
Family members have a way of breaking our hearts and leaving us depressed with feelings of rejection. When this happens to you, remember the following three truths.
Every family has some knots in their family tree. The very first couple (Adam and Eve) had a son that murdered his brother. David had two sons who broke just about every law of decency (Amon and Absalom). Even the innocent Jesus had an ancestor who had sex with her father-in-law (Tamar). And our Lord’s half-brothers tried to overpower the Son of God thinking he was insane (Mark 3:21).
Just because your family commits sin doesn’t mean that you are a failure. Since all of us have family members who disappoint us, we all need to understand that each person is accountable for their own actions and sins (Ezekiel 18:20).
God considers you to be more valuable than anything else in the world. Despite what your family does, God loves you. He forgives you. You are more valuable to God. You are still capable of doing great things! God wants you to continue to set an example of faith to the brethren (Matthew 16:26; Philippians 4:13; 1 Timothy 4:12).
Larry Fitzgerald
Woodlawn church of Christ
Abilene, TX