Why do so many people dread spending holidays with family or extended family? Why are so many families divided today? The easiest answer is that they are not like-minded. Too many families are split apart over a range of beliefs that cause their division.
Politics is a big one and understandable. It is completely comprehensible because the United States of America is really not “united” anymore. The days of two opposing political leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill are gone, not because leaders like them no longer exist, those days are gone because there is no more “common” ground. My mother-in-law has a sister she calls “her mother’s other daughter” because they are so far apart on politics. Fortunately, I side with my mother-in-law. 😊
How about money? That’s another big one. I know two families that were divided over disagreements regarding their inheritance. Even though the father left a “Will” clearly stating his intentions, a couple of the siblings felt they were entitled to more. Another family had a sibling who believed she was entitled to more of the inheritance because she had more children than her other siblings.
Politics and money can sow great division!
What about religion?
Politics and money have to do with the physical aspects of this world. I hate to use the word “religion” because it can be misconstrued. I am using it to describe “believers”. Specifically, belief in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. How many families are divided between “believers” and “non-believers”?
The divided family is not a new problem specifically to our day. The theologian William Barclay wrote that the Romans hated Christianity because it divided families. Christianity divided the Hebrew Jews from Christian Jews and the false-god worshipping Gentiles from Christian Gentiles.
The structure of family was very important to the Roman Empire. The Romans understood the importance of a cohesive family unit to the viability of the Empire. That’s why they hated Christianity, because it divided families. An article in “The Trumpet” explains the importance of family to the success of empires and how England and the U.S. are on the same dangerous path as the Roman Empire.
Jesus echoes the Roman sentiment that He did not come here for peace but for division as it relates to this physical world.
In Luke 12:51 He states… “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No I tell you, but rather division”.
Jesus drives home His point in Luke 12:53…They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
The Romans were correct it is important to have a strong cohesive family. But significantly more important is the strength of the foundation that family is built upon. The Romans had numerous gods and goddesses for every earthly concern. Here are a few examples…
- Venus the goddess of love and beauty
- Neptune the god of the sea (photo)
- Vulcan the god of fire.
- Cupid the god of love.
- Veritas the goddess of truth.
Each Roman family probably had their preferred “go to” gods.
Many years ago, a father gave his son exceptional advice, or so he thought. He cautioned his son that when seeking a spouse, a marriage has a greater chance of success and happiness if you choose a woman who is on the same page on significant matters such as believing and honoring God, and respecting the American Constitution that is based on Judeo- Christian values. He stressed the importance of raising children in a household that was united. His son heeded his advice but not as the father expected. His son abandoned his upbringing entirely to marry a woman and embrace her family’s very secular and progressive beliefs in the things of this world.
It breaks the father’s heart to have a son that does not honor God in his home. My understanding is that the son is very happy living “likeminded” with his new clan enjoying all the secular pleasures this world has to offer; just like the many Roman families that built there foundations on false gods. But Roman families have gone the route of the Philistines, they no longer exist. The gods or pleasures of this world such as fame, fortune, and material things are temporal.
If a family’s cohesiveness is built on the belief of one or more false gods, where does that leave them when catastrophe comes? How strong can a foundation of a false god be? There is no argument that Roman civilization failed partly due to the disintegration of the Roman family. But the Roman families failed because they were built on false foundations. It takes more than “likemindedness” to secure a family.
Strong families are important. But families who build upon a foundation of things tied to this earthly world is not a truly fortified family. A family that builds itself on the foundation of Jesus is a fortified family.
When a man and woman fall in love and get married they plan on living happily ever after, or at least to a ripe old age together. No one expects to die early and leave their spouse with young children. My dad passed away at the age of 50.
His greatest blessing to his children was choosing a wife of exceptional character, a strong constitution, and exemplary faith that enabled her to continue the task of raising their four children. Are my siblings and I likeminded on everything? Of course not! However, we all share in our belief in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That belief is the rock, the foundation of our faith that has kept us a “united family” through the thick and the thin, well into our 60’s.
So why would Jesus come here to divide families? Families would naturally be divided if the family’s foundation was built on earthy things. Jesus’ work on the cross, our salvation was only the beginning. The beginning of starting His family. Through Jesus we are adopted by God into a family built on the foundation of faith in Him. God did not create us in His image to be separated from Him.
We read in Mark 12:30 … thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Our first commandment as “believers” is to love God. Members of earthly families who choose to love God first will be divided from family members who choose the things of this world over God. A house divided will not stand.
Jesus came to welcome us into God’s family. John 1:12 … “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. Thus the division among earthly families; a person cannot be adopted into God’s family if you belong to an earthly family that lives contrary to Him.
1 John 3:1
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him”
It grieves believers who share the same last name with non-believers. Why is it that we know Him and our loved ones do not, or worse, choose not to? I heard the answer this morning in Bible study. It is a heart issue. While our hearts desire and seek the love and peace of our Heavenly Father, their hearts are focused on this secular world.
Pray for your non-believing family members that they will turn towards God and be filled with His light. That they will accept Jesus’ work on the cross and that His Holy Spirit will guide them into the family we are all created to be part of.
God’s family is the only united and eternal family!
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