Why Your Family Benefits When They Are Second Place

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It’s a contemplative time of year.

Fall has that effect on people.

Oftentimes at a time like this, Christians may say something like, “I’m ready to get my life back,” or, “I’m trying to put my life back together.”

If that is your desire today, you have missed the point. I don’t want you to put your life back together. Honestly, I want you to lose your life.

Read the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:32-39:

32 “Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. 34 Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to turn
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and a man’s enemies will be
the members of his household.
37 The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. 39Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.

Jesus appears to challenge any attempts at being a family man or woman. It appears that he belittles your love for your children or your wife, but that could not be further from the truth. He wants to reorient your focus though. If you seek to please your wife or your children, you could forsake Jesus. But if you seek to please Jesus, you will always give your best to your wife and your children. That’s what it means to lose your life. Surrender everything you have to Christ, let Him direct your paths, and you actually gain what real life is supposed to be like.

Your family actually benefits when they are second place.

Get practical in this introspection below. Let God paint a picture of what this life could look like if you completely surrendered to Him.

If you loved Jesus more than anything else, how would your wife benefit practically?

If you loved Jesus more than anything else, how would your children benefit practically?

If you loved Jesus more than anything else, how would your church benefit practically?

If you loved Jesus more than anything else, how would your coworkers benefit practically?

Commit your way to Jesus. Follow Him wholeheartedly and see what He can do with a life surrendered to Him.