Family First

 I find that many Christians of today struggle to balance church life and family time. 

In most cases, they are always allowing the church to tip the scale or win over being there and present for their family. 

It's a good tactic of the enemy to have followers of Christ so consumed by church life that they forget what I consider and believe to be their first ministry. 

And, when I speak about church life, I am not speaking about your intimate relationship with God. I am speaking about your presence and works in the church's four walls. 

I have witnessed regular churchgoers all the way up to prime leaders neglect and forsake their family members just to appease the church. 

This is not good. 

However, this topic is a very tricky one to discuss because there are so many factors that play into church and family life balance depending on the position you have in the church according to the persons of today. 

I personally feel like it's straight across the board, but I have heard many people say that God has called them to be set aside. This is fine and understandable, yet one can not believe they can run a church successfully or be a faithful member if they can not manage their own household. 

If you don't agree with what I am saying, that's fine, but let's look at the Word. 

1 Timothy 3:5 

"If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church" 

Let's also look at 1 Timothy 5:8 

"Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" 

Yikes. 

That second one was brutal, wasn't it?

But, it's The Word and it is true!

We can not be fully committed to saving souls and spreading the Word of God, or even His love when we are skipping over those who have been assigned to us from birth. 

They are indeed our first ministry. Our first works in God. 

If we can not love, care and speak to them about God's love and instructions we can not do so to strangers or persons we commune within the four walls. 

There is no way our church should know us more than our family. 

When I say family, I am meaning immediate family by the way. Husband, wife, children, siblings, parents/guardians, etc.

We shouldn't be prone to jumping when our church needs us but barely budging when our family does.

We won't ever be able to resolve issues that occur in our church when we refuse to resolve the issues that go on within our homes.

We shouldn't be perfecting our image so that the church sees us as holy but neglect who and what we should represent when it comes to how our family sees us. 

When I say Family First and I refer to 1 Thessalonians, I am referring to creating space and time for listening and nurturing your home more than you try to create space and nurture those in church. 

It is harsh to hear, but it is necessary. 

Only when one can master their household and I don't mean rule it, but I mean as in know-how to love and care for their members in their home. 

Know how to solve issues, correct them, and establish order with God as their head. 

Know how to love and listen and care for these beautiful people God has put in our lives. 

Only then can we manage to do so in our churches these things that we practice at home. 

We hear the saying practice what you preach. 

Our home is our practice grounds. 

So many times churches are becoming dysfunctional and unbalanced because many people have neglected their first works. 

Love is not displayed properly because love is not established in our homes. 

Correction is done poorly because it is barely done in our homes. 

Leading and teaching is done poorly because it is not displayed in the home. 

Living one life to portray an image before others and neglecting to become true to the ones who really see us in every season. 

Today, I want to encourage each and every one of us to remember our families on this journey. 

They are our first works. 

I, too, had felt like I can skip over them and appease the masses. 

That I didn't need to win them over only to respect and honor those in the church, but I had to remember that these persons were who I prayed to God for. 

I could not leave them behind. 

I could not be a leader, or a passionate person all in the name of a churchgoer when the people at home did not recognize or ever saw my fruits. 

But, how I treat and care for my husband, my parents, siblings,  and so forth was what will be displayed within the church. 

I am not saying to not care about the church at all, I am saying that we must learn how to balance and what is first. 

They are our ministry, they are where our fruits will bear and ripen. 

~TheRay