Matthew 12:46-50
New International Version (NIV)
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and
brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told
him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my
mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he
said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the
will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Have
you ever wondered why Jesus was not more receptive of His family in this
passage? As I ponder Jesus words in this
passage I have been given a little bit of a different perceptive than what I
have had in the past. As I read this it
reminded me that in everything that I do, I should make sure I am doing the
will of my Father. In today’s society it
seems like people put more and more of an emphasis on their families. I don’t know how many times I have heard that
we need to give pastors more time with their families. We need to protect their family time because family
is so very important. We even use that
excuse if we are lay leaders in the church.
However, it seems like in our society if you make a ton of money it is
okay to neglect your family because you are providing for them, you are buying
your replacement for being gone. As a
pastor or even a lay person though, we think we need to only serve in the hours
that are convenient for our family, after all we don’t get paid that much and
we need to have family time. Is that
what Jesus is saying in these verses. Do
you notice thought that Jesus points to His disciples, I don’t know if He
pointed to the chosen twelve or if He pointed to each person in that room but
at any rate, notice, He pointed to those who were there spending time with
Him. He pointed to those who were there
early enough to get in the same room with Him.
He pointed to those who had His full attention. It is my understanding that those who chose
to follow Him left everything. They had
families that they left behind to follow Him.
Some may argue that if we have been given a family then spending time
with them is the will of the Father.
They may be correct in that but it is my belief that if we are truly in
the will of the Father He will give us those times that we cherish with our
families. He will grant us those
precious times together and He will bind the family so close together that even
during those times that we are not together, the cord will be so strong that it
will not be broken. Jesus makes it very
clear in this scripture that our families, although important is nothing in comparison
to the importance of the will of the Heavenly Father.
For
years my husband and I served as a deacon couple in our church. We were involved in different leadership
roles and spent hours away from our girls in order to serve the Lord. I think you could ask either one of our
daughters and they would say that they were not deprived of their parents’ time
or attention. I believe you would hear
them say that they respected our commitment and their lives indicate to us that
they too have a desire to serve the Lord.
I am not saying that we were always perfect in our service or as parents
but we certainly wanted to be in the will of our Father and we served joyfully
in that role. Whey our service did not
bring joy then we were doing it for all the wrong reason causing it to be
burdensome. It is also easy to get so
busy in church work that we are not truly doing it for the glorification of our
Father. When we find ourselves being
busy but have no joy we may want to examine what we are doing what we are
doing. If we find ourselves complaining
more than rejoicing we need to examine why we are doing what we are doing. Doing the will of the Father should bring joy
to our soul and peace beyond comprehension.
One
additional note, do you notice Jesus never says that if we serve Him we will be
His Father? Of course not, the role of
the Father is specific to the authority of God the Father. There is no one on this earth male or female,
young or old that has the authority of being the Father, Jesus reserves that for
the Heavenly Father as should we. I believe
sometimes we elevate our ministers to a position higher than was intended for
them. We need to respect those who have
been called but yet every one of those who claim to be followers of Christ have
been called, everyone is His brother, sister or mother. Some have been given the gift of speaking
(preaching), prophesying, teaching but not one of us is more important than the
other. Just as Jesus points out in these
verses, if we want to be a part of the family we need to be doing the will of
the Father, glorifying Him in all that we do.
Please don’t get me wrong, I believe Jesus has given us those to help
guide us in our lives and if they are preaching and living the word of God we
need to listen and heed the message. If
we are not careful we can start worshipping the messenger rather than
worshipping our Heavenly Father, thus falling out of the will of the
Father.
I
write this blog because I want to be in the will of my Father. He has granted me the ability to write and
people have said how much the blogs have touched their lives but it is not the
blog, it is not me, it is the will of the Father. Never do I want to be elevated to the point
that people believe these are my words, they are the thoughts that go into my
mind that I believe the Father has given to me to share. If Sheila is the one shining then it is time
to quit the blog. As long as our
Heavenly Father is shining then the blogs will continue.
As
you seek Him and find Him you will know and understand the will of the Father
in your life. Glorify the Lord and do so
by using the gifts that He has given you to do.
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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