Below is a post by Dave Black concerning an article called "family values." I hope you enjoy and are challenged by the thought that the gospel demands all - not some, not half - but all that we are.
8:44 AM Recently I had a conversation with someone about family pressure. You know, the kind of negative peer/familial pressure that tries to keep you from pursuing God's will for your life. This issue was recently addressed in an essay called "Family Values." I'll just offer my two drachmas.
Jesus is very clear about what it means to follow Him. Through His teachings, our eyes can be opened to see the divine balance that Christ Himself taught. Once we fully understand the Great Commission and the principles of kingdom living, we will find that life is one unbroken piece of cloth. Every activity, every project, every goal in our lives is to be evaluated in terms of how it contributes to the ultimate mission of God on earth -- global evangelization in our generation. Real faith doesn't come cheap. It cost Abraham everything to serve God. He left father and mother, homes and animals, not even knowing where he was going because he wanted to serve God more than anything the world had to offer. As believers, we are ambassadors sent to this world from another kingdom. We know from Scripture what this entails. It requires a submitted and surrendered will. It requires us to refuse to make any important decision in life without submitting it first for His approval. It requires us to get off the religious merry-go-round by making the kingdom the central passion of our lives. We must be willing to "let goods and kindred go." It means following in the steps of Jesus. We must be willing, as He was, to forsake everything, even family, for the sake of lost souls. The deceitfulness of sin -- often disguised as family "love" -- will keep us from achieving a committed life if we are not careful.
As the essay reminds us, the traditions and wisdom of our society -- including so-called "family values" -- can no longer dictate what we as Christians will do with our time, money, and energy. Many people are hindered in their walk with Christ because of peer/family pressure. But the Prince of Peace came with a sword. He insisted, "Unless you hate father and mother you cannot be My disciple." The American Civil War literally divided families. James Crittenden (whose famous "compromise" failed to avert the war) had one son who became a Union general and another son who became a Confederate general. Abraham Lincoln's wife Mary had seven bothers and brothers-in-law who fought for the South. Officers who fought side-by-side during the Mexican War of 1846 fought against each other during the war of 1861. Captain Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant James Longstreet became mortal enemies of Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant and Lieutenant Winfield Scott Hancock a mere 16 years later.
Follow Jesus with your whole heart and many will think you are crazy, even perhaps your own family members. But you must obey the Master, remembering the words of Jesus, "He who is not with Me is against Me." Carnal Christians and unsaved loved ones simply cannot understand what Jesus is saying here. But what does God require? I challenge you to read the Gospels and mark every verse where Jesus talks about family. Seek to obey what He says, not merely talk about it.
