Caring for Relatives

Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8)

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (1 John 4:20)

Thoughts: In our day when many sluff off responsibility, the scriptures remind us the importance of family.   In our day, we like to think that women and men can equally fend for themselves- and we blatantly ignore that it takes time, money, and energy to raise children. We are called in these passages to think about the needs of our relatives and look for a way to help them.  It is easy to isolate our thinking and our help from those who are in need- even if they are our own relatives and kin.  I have heard many give flimsy reasons for not giving child support.  A guy may want a new truck or a new kitchen while their child is going without the basics.  As my grandmother used to say, "If you are responsible for bringing them into this world, you are responsible for taking care of them."  Who else should be responsible?  When there are so many divorces, parents need to consider caring for their biological and step children, and adult children should care for their biological parents and step parents.   God places us with our neighbors and places us in our families (Psalm 68:6).
Families teach us about God's sacrificial love.  You cannot keep the family together and not give something up for others.  Sibling rivalry can also destroy a family.  One sibling wants the stuff or the attention and let the other one go without.  Scriptures teach us to be content with whatever our lot may be.  Jesus had nothing, yet He teaches us by example to be content and have peace and faith in God. 
    But these passages also remind us- as Mother's Day comes up that we are to care for our mothers and mothers are to care for their children.  We know we are called to "love our neighbor."  The follow up question, "Who then is my neighbor" was answered by the parable of the Good Samaritan.  The stranger who was a Jew did not deserve the Samaritan's care- but they encountered each other.  It seems Jesus was saying the neighbor is the person God puts into our path.  Family members are put in our path more than any other.  Our neighbor is first of all our family.  If we cannot love our family- then we cannot love our neighbor.  I John says it even clearer, "How can you say you love God whom you have not seen... when you cannot love your brother or sister whom you have seen."
     Of course this involves wisdom and being a good steward, but we are called to love our neighbor "as our self."  That means we are called to do to our neighbor as we would have them do to us.  We want to love our neighbor but hold something back.  But that is not how Jesus loved us.  He was all in- and gave Himself totally with nothing held back on the cross for us.
     So give yourself more than you might like for your family.  Make yourself reach out a bit more, care a bit more, be a little less jaded and more forgiving.  You will find there- in the giving- the peace and blessing of God.  

Prayer: Lord, help me to have the kind of grace you have to me.  Help me to love my family even if they are not deserving of my love.  Give me grace to be less selfish and more caring.