Christian Family Values or the Image of a Christian Family?
by Denise Mistich
(Mt. Juliet, TN)
As a newly rededicated Christian, Christian family values became a priority for me. Now, when I rededicated, my family was as far from Christian as possible in my eyes, so I began focusing on what I wanted in our lives. I patterned my new goals after other Christian families within my new church. I compared myself to them constantly and always ended up looking down at the ground; not into their eyes and not into the eyes of Christ.
I will never forget one evening at choir practice, while singing my heart out, doing what a Christian should do and feeling like I finally belonged, I fell. Right there in my seat in church I fell into a darkness that was so overwhelming and devastating that I quit singing and just sat there. I didn't belong in this group. None of these ladies could possibly have committed the atrocities that I had. What was I thinking? I felt so low, that those old suicidal thoughts started to creep back in. It took weeks for me to bounce back.
When I bounced back, I took on more chores at church, went back to choir practice, did more things that Christians ought to do, and then I fell again. This stumble, fall, bounce back up pattern went on for quite some time.
It lasted until I realized that doing chores at church, singing in the choir and doing things a Christian ought to do were mere pieces of an image of Christian family values that I had branded into my mind. These pieces were not providing the salvation and sanctification that I needed. These pieces did not bring Christian family values into my home. As a matter of fact, looking at the pieces was much like looking into a broken mirror. Something was definitely missing from the image I wanted so badly to achieve.
What did I do about it? I left that church and left that group and completely gave up on doing things a Christian ought to do. I left legalism for good! I turned up the Praise and Worship music in my home, opened my Bible and began to study feverishly the word of God. I found the missing piece: a one-on-one relationship with God, the Creator and Master of all things through the indwelling of His word in my heart, Jesus Christ.
Consider Mary, called into service by God, highly favored, yet humble and obedient. Was she called into the Synagogue, into legalism and an image of Christian family values?
No. As the mother of our beloved Jesus, she was called to Egypt, the "house of bondage", away from the religious leaders of Israel and away from those who would kill her baby. She must have wondered how she would raise a Godly son in such a place, but rather than seeking a mere image of a Godly family, she obeyed God's word. She fled to a country filled with idolatry and sin. The good news is that she was called back out of Egypt.
Mary and Joseph were born under the law. Legalism was a part of the very fiber of their being, but they had to let it go. Perhaps their flight to "the house of bondage" served to rescue them and their beloved from a deeper bondage; legalism. Jesus was all that we seek, because He was seeking and obeying God, not chasing an image of Christian family values. There are no missing pieces in the mirror for Christ Jesus.
Luk 6:40 A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.
* Stop comparing yourself to other Christian women and chasing a mere image of Christian family values. You really don't know what their lives are like at home.
* Choose the teacher that is whole and perfect. That's Jesus!
* Fill in the missing pieces with the word of God. That's Jesus too!!
* Be called out of the house of bondage of doing Christian things and allow God's word to rule in your life. That's Jesus too!!!
* When you are called back out of Egypt, serve as God wants you to serve: through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That's Jesus.
The Apostle Paul has this to say about it:
Gal 1:12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
