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Family Feud

 


The Facebook post was a sweet and savory reminder. But let me be honest here of what happened. It's the behind-the-scenes that you get the privilege of knowing. 

I'm often behind in...yikes... everything these days. Seminary work, ministry duties (like these posts. sorry), chores, and even my favorite hobby stuff-- gardening. Sitting down to try to get work done and catch up on reading is always interrupted by someone. My parents live with us since they're stuck here due to the pandemic. Sam, can you help me with my phone/computer? Or Sam, can you make an appointment for me? They're my parents. I can't say no. 

Ah. But when my kids approach me, I can take it out on them. I'm bigger than them. I'm older. I can bully them and they have zero defense. I catch myself taking out my frustration on my kids. 

Ugh. God. Please make it stop. I NEED TO GET WORK DONE FOR YOU, LORD! My Westernized mind craves "productivity" and measures it by tasks completed. Is that the work God has called me to?

Romans 5

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

I beg God to remove suffering. However, according to Romans 5 suffering isn't spontaneous. It is calculated. My fight with dad? My daughter's rash? My son's sleep regression? My wife's imperfection?

My family feud serves a purpose-- it is not meaningless frustration. 

All the whining, complaints, favors, etc... are producing in me endurance. That endurance is forming my character. That character leads to hope! That's right-- my annoying family is carefully placed in my life by God to bear in me the Fruit of the Spirit! It is EASY to fake "niceness" with strangers, clients, coworkers, and peers. But who we are at home reveals the legitimacy of our Fruit.

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control (Galatians 5:22-23)

If I were to ask your family members, would they say that you're patient? Kind? Would your kids say you're gentle? Would your spouse describe you as someone who is faithful? Do you ever lose self-control?

Family is the best soil in which we grow in producing the Fruit of the Spirit. If you're struggling (like I am), the reminder is to go before God because it is He who gives us the Holy Spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit who bears that fruit in us. 

But be careful with that prayer-- God may very well give you crazy opportunities to practice those Fruit!

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