Family Priorities
"After Jesus and his
disciples left the synagogue, they went over to Simon and Andrew's home, and
James and John were with them. Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed with a
high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. He went to her bedside, and
as he took her by the hand and helped her to sit up, the fever suddenly left,
and she got up and prepared a meal for them" - Mark 1:29-31 (NLT).
Notice a hyphenated word that might escape our notice as important - -
"mother-in-law."
Simon had a mother-in-law. This meant that Simon (Peter) was married. And this
means that when Peter left his job to follow Jesus, he also left his wife
behind, only to see her occasionally as time permitted. For three and a half
years Peter traveled all over Israel with Jesus, but it is doubtful that his
wife was with him, though she might have been at times.
At the very least, Peter saw very little of his wife, for a time, in order to
serve the Lord. Conversely, Peter's wife gave up regular contact with her
husband so that the Kingdom of God could have the talents of her husband (though
later she would travel with Peter - see 1 Corinthians 9:5). And we do not know
whether or not Peter had children, but certainly, if he did, his absences made
an impact on them too.
So what's my point? Simply that sometimes when we follow Jesus, there is
suffering that goes with it. We sometimes give up much - - even family ties.
It isn't that God doesn't care about family, or that he wants us to neglect
them. He invented the family! And in our story, Jesus went to Peter's home to
eat and healed his mother-in-law, so Jesus obviously cared what happened to her.
Mostly, we serve God by serving our families in his name. We minister to their
needs and in so doing we serve Christ. Husbands are commanded to love their
wives as their own bodies, and wives are commanded to submit to their husbands
out of love for God and him (See Ephesians 5:25ff).
But as important as our families are, they are not the highest priority in life
- - God is.
Jesus said, "If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own
father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, more than your
own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple" - Luke 14:26 (NLT).
Again, in no way are we saying that anyone should purposely and constantly
neglect their families. God expects us to love and nurture them with all our
hearts, and sees our love for them as love for him.
But there are times in our lives when we are faced with choices to either place
God, or family first. When that time comes, we must be like Peter, and follow
the call of God on our lives, even if it means placing family second.
Be careful with this. Some husbands or wives totally ignore their spouse and
children to pursue their ministries - - not because it is a special season in
their life given to them by God (like Peter), but because they are selfish and
desire the prestige and ego-boosting of ministry to the duties of family.
However, having said this, we must clearly articulate the fact that no one and
nothing should ever come between us and our God, or his special call on our
lives. If they do, then they have become our god, and displaced the Lord God
himself.
Notice, though, that after Jesus called for Peter to leave his family behind, he
went and ministered to them in a special way. Sure, he went to Peter's house to
eat, but he also went to heal.
When we are busy serving God and sacrificing for his Kingdom, I believe that God
sends special blessings our way - - special healing, special attention from the
Almighty. Oh, we'll still suffer, but God will minister to us in attentive,
special ways that will let our hearts know that he is proud of us, and with us
through it all.
So love your family, but make Jesus Christ your priority in life. When you do,
you will find special blessings and healing coming your way.