Yesterday's Bible Study |
In this verse from 1 Timothy, Paul gives us a stern reminder that we must care for our family members. We should be the last to give up on them and the first to offer our help. We are able to follow Paul's commands through Jesus, who gives us the ability to provide for our families and honor the Lord while doing so.
What does it mean to provide for our families? Of course it covers the most basic needs like food and shelter, but it goes beyond that. We are not merely to be people who have homes and food to eat, but people who have an exciting walk with the Lord. This means spiritual training is an important part of providing for our families. Spiritual training includes church attendance, Bible study, prayer, and worship. If the heads of our households do not do these things, then we should take on the responsibility as much as possible. If our families are hostile toward religion, we have a holy duty to pray that the Lord might soften their hearts.
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Families, especially family members with whom we live, are truly our first mission field. They are the people who God has placed in our lives, and we should treat them with the love of Jesus. Sometimes, because we are so familiar with family (indeed, familiar and family are from the same root word), it can be tiresome to show them love day after day after day. Our constant exposure to each other can make us feel weary, forgetting the privilege that we have to be a part of each other's lives at such an intimate level. However, when we remember this instruction from Paul and ask the Lord to help us, He will help us honor Him.
Treating our families with love and providing for them trains us to go out into the world and share the Gospel. When we have practiced stretching ourselves, forgiving, and showing grace to our families, we will be able to do the same for those we don't know. When we learn to see other people and our families as a gift from the Lord, we will be able to love them boundlessly and cherish them as the sons and daughters of the Lord that they are.
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