October 27, 2014

1 Timothy 5:8
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Just reading the text above pretty clearly shows that God takes family pretty seriously. God uses the word relatives, not immediate family, not just mom or dad, and not even only the ones that you like. Relatives, in my mind, can mean anyone around us. People that we may work with or come in contact with on a daily basis. What is to stop us from showing love and compassion to a total stranger. Jesus did it, why can’t we?
It does go on in the verse, especially members of the household. That is plain and simple, it’s referring to your spouse, your kids, or even mom and dad if they are still your providers. God should always be our main focus and if we keep our eyes fixed on Him then everything else will fall into place. But next on our list are the people closest to us, being your spouse, if you have one, and he or she should be someone that you would do anything for…ANYTHING.

Philippians 2:4
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This verse is sometimes difficult for us to live by, putting others first before ourselves. But if we love that person, or relative, than we should have a heart wide open for whatever they may need.

Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

So if we stop and think about it, God in Heaven laid down his life for you and me, and we can’t learn to love our neighbors? God has shown us the greatest amount of love that we can’t even fathom and yet we can’t show compassion to the ones near to us. I think that we have some evaluating to do and dig deep into God’s word and ask for His guidance and wisdom through all that we do.