Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Matthew 10:37-38 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
CHURCH IS FOR FAMILY BUT NOT ALL ABOUT FAMILY
In many ways church has a lot to do with family and where you were raised. But regardless of how you were raised, there eventually comes a point where you must take responsibility for what you believe. In the Lutheran church, this often happens in the rite of Confirmation. Confirmation is a time for children to publicly confess that they believe the teachings of the Bible. In Confirmation, we confess our faith and choose a church because we understand and believe God's Word, not because that's the way our parents did it.
Even though Confirmation is a good tool for instructing the younger generation to be mature Christians, there is still is temptation for us to rely on family too much when it comes to church. In many areas of life, we make decisions with family loyalty in mind. This can happen when it comes to church as well. If we're not careful and diligent in our confession, we can fall into the trap of just following what our family does rather than believing from the heart.
Jesus Himself taught that He came for all people, including families, but we are not to put family loyalty above Him. God does not want us to go to church and be members of a fellowship just because that's what our parents and grandparents did. He wants us to understand and know why we confess what we do. He wants us to be willing to leave a church if it strays from the truth, even if our family members don't want to. Above all, our reason for going to church goes back to our reason for believing in Jesus. We want to be in an environment that promotes all of God's truth, especially the gospel of forgiveness in Christ our Savior. It is a blessing to grow as a family under such an environment, but let us always remember why. Loyalty in church belongs to Christ, not to our family.
