1000

This is a tag on to my last posting. So if you haven't read that one, read it first. 

I recently read an article this week that helped me understand where Christians who are focused on family may be coming from. It expressed a view concerning the family that was nearly the same as my own. Family is an arena in which we, as Christians, can reveal God’s nature and demonstrate God’s Kingdom values – by being good husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, serving and submitting to one another in love (Eph 5:21).

As Christians we can make a huge impact upon our culture, and we can proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, simply by being good family members. But, this does not mean we must have good healthy families. A man, or woman’s love for their spouse will be truly demonstrated when that spouse has done nothing to earn their love; this is how Jesus loved us. How greatly we fail when instead of addressing the epidemic of selfishness inside the Church – manifested in divorce, lust, rebellion, spousal and child abuse, husbands and wives who fight for control so that they may satisfy their own selfish desires, etc. – we try to force those outside of the Church to live according to our values. Let’s take the log out of our own eye before we try to take the speck out of our neighbor’s eye. Let’s stop trying to force people to modify their behavior and let’s start proclaiming the love of God.

I am all for discipleship that teaches men, women and children how to be loving, serving members of their family. However, though the family is a venue for glorifying God, it is not the primary means by which the world will be transformed. Christ’s body the Church, which is a representation of the Kingdom of God, is the primary means in this age by which this world is to be transformed.