On November 29th I promised you “More on this later” in reference to the “Christian Family” attitude. Maybe I should have referenced it as a lifestyle instead. If you read this, you may get your toes stepped on and you may think I’m crazy. You may say to yourself “no family is like this” or “I bet his family isn’t like this”. One thing is for certain, I think I’ll have you at least thinking about your Christian Family and if so, then I’ve succeeded today.
The typical Christian family attitude or lifestyle, what is it?
First, it starts with Mom and Dad. What kind of Christians are they? As most of us know, many of us are “Sunday Christians”. On Sunday, they are at church. As a matter of fact, they never miss a service. Their Christianity revolves around the church service and their walk with God is measured by how much they got out of the service. The problem begins when they take their bible back into the house. It generally will sit, unmoved, until the next Wednesday or Sunday. A “Sunday Christian” doesn’t think to read their bible because they are just too busy during the week. They want to read but they just can’t find the time. Every Sunday they look forward to getting to church so they can finally read their bible when they follow along with the pastor as he reads.
Second, this lifestyle continues with Mom and Dad. They lack a real prayer life. Oh they pray before every meal. They will even sneak in a prayer before bed. But what they lack is that real time with God. They fail to pray without ceasing (1 Thes 5:17), they don’t have an attitude of prayer. Praying is something that they do when they need something from God. A Sunday Christian knows that every good and perfect gift comes from God (James 1:17) but so often, they fail to thank God for them. Their children have never heard them behind closed doors interceding for them.
Next, the kids…no wait, still mom and dad. The typical Christian Family lifestyle continues with a lack of relationships at home. Relationships at home tend to be superficial. Mom and Dad are obviously tolerating each other most of the time. The children rarely hear true, heartfelt conversations between mom and dad. Their conversations may be matter-of-fact and revolve mostly around past or upcoming events like what’s for dinner. There is very little discussion of how much each parent means to the other and there is certainly very little discussion about how much God has blessed them no matter what’s going on in their lives.
Now the kids? Nope. In a typical Christian Family cliché home, there is very little “action” concerning God. In other words, children don’t see mom and dad actively doing something for God. Fortunately, even in the worst of these homes, charity still exists so the children at least get to see compassion for those less fortunate. But past that, there probably aren’t many good deeds being done in God’s name. When was the last time this families children saw their dad witness to a waiter or when was the last time that mom asked the waitress if she knew Jesus?
As you’ve probably gathered, the kids play no part in this. The Proverbs 22:6 says “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it”. The responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of the parents. Now, by now, you are probably asking “ok, how should a real Christian family live”? Well I’m glad that you’ve asked. Unfortunately, time has not been my friend today so I will devote my next post to that topic.
Until the next time, God loves you and I do too!
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