"If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him..."--Deuteronomy 13:6-8. Moses, instructing the Israelite people what to do when they are influenced by those closest to them to disobey God.
Family influence. We all know our family has a huge influence on us. Our family is a lot of the reason we are who we are today. Many of us were fortunate enough to grow up in a household where our parents were members of the Lord's church. However, for many others such as myself this was not entirely the case. It is when this is the case that being a follower of God can become difficult. It can become difficult due to the family influence that still surrounds us. Even for those who did grow up in Christian households, there are those who have other family members that are not followers of God so that influence to not follow God can still exist, even if it is not particularly strong.
Family influence. Early on in my Christianity, the influence of the world that came through a lot of my family still had a pretty good grip on me because even though I knew I was saved, I still had no idea what God really expected of me now that I had chosen to follow Him. Yes I knew I had to make adjustments to my lifestyle which involves repentance, but I had no idea how much of an adjustment. As those first few years carried on, I stumbled on Luke 14:26 where Jesus says that if we do not hate our father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and even our own life, we cannot be His disciple! This verse did not really set right with me at first. I originally construed it as and asked do I literally have to HATE my family in order to follow Christ? I have not been the first to ask this question and I am pretty sure I won't be the last. The answer to this question is yes, we do have to hate our family. However, not according to the world's definition of hate but according to God's definition of hate as it is used in Luke 14:26 which more often than not can be drastically different. When we use the word hate, we intend to say we have an intense dislike toward something or someone. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines the word in this way. However, the Greek word miseo which is used here in Luke 14:26 means to be disinclined to or disfavor in contrast to preferential treatment (BDAG 653). In other words, what we have to do is love our family less than we love Christ which means that our commitment to Him is primary even above our own family.
Family influence. So how does this all fit in to Deuteronomy 13:6-8 and how can we apply this? Well as we read on through Deuteronomy 13:9-11, we find that the one who is influencing the people toward not following God is to be quite literally gotten rid of. Of course we are no longer under this law but the principle still applies. When it comes to our family trying to influence us toward ungodliness, we must remember our commitment to Christ comes first even in the midst of persecution. Secondly, what we can do in the coming days is as opposed to letting our family influence us, try to influence them toward obedience to the gospel. One way to do this is simply striking up a conversation about God or even something as simple as inviting them to church services. While our family influence can be strong, the influence we can have with the gospel message can be much stronger.
PRAY ABOUT IT! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!
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