How To Serve Families and Why It Matters!
I always believe that we are all here on earth for a reason. Our lives become therefore meaningful only when we learn how to serve others.
Serving does not begin at Church, work place, school, you name it. It begins in your family, no matter how you define it.
The reason why serving begins in the family is that family members represent the first people God has brought into our lives. They are the people whose lives for which God has asked us to care.
Today, family dynamics have considerably been changing in the United States of America. According to Pew Research Center, in 1960, 87% of households in the United States had both parents at home. In 2014, however, that number has gone down to 69%. Also, the number of families with only one parent has gone up from 9% in 1960 to 26% in 2014.
With all this in mind, don’t you feel we need to serve families?
Also, serving may not always mean serving your own family, but sometimes it has to do with the family next door. You can be that parent to help with the family living just next to you.
Whatever you do, remember, though, that it is God working through you. For this work, God equips and gifts you with 3 powerful tools: 1)power, 2)will and 3)strength. Yes, just as you are, you are equipped and gifted for life. And, you can do it with God’s help.
Before jumping into how to serve families, let me point out 2 things.
1. Family is God’s gift and a blessing to humankind
God blessed humankind through Adam and Eve according to the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve therefore represent the first family here on earth. God blessed them saying: “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1: 27-28)
Children and everyone else in the family are a heritage from God. (Psalm 127: 3-5) It is a reward from God to families. (Psalm 127: 3-5)
Family, as a gift to humankind, also represents the basic unity of society. Every community, we have today, started with a single family.
The health of one family can then affect the rest of society.
That is why serving family should be taken very seriously.
2. Each family member has some responsibility
Family being a gift to everyone needs to be treated with respect and honor. Doing so means we honor and respect the Giver of family: God.
Caring for the gift of family means assuming some responsibility, which every member in the family has. I categorize them into two.
First, Parents are all leaders in their families.
They are to:
- train and instruct children and other family members in the way of the Lord,
- embrace a lifestyle that does not bring ruin to their households and
- be servant leaders.
Their lives as servant leaders should be marked by the following:
- plan and goal setting,
- providing for family,
- investing financially and emotionally in the lives of every single member of the family,
- strength and determination.
Second, Children’s threefold responsibility
Just as parents have responsibilities, so do children.
Here are what they are to do:
- Children are to honor their parents (Gd Parents, Guardians, Foster Parents, etc.) by keeping their command, teaching and instruction. (Exodus 20: 12)
- Children are to bring joy to their parents by not despising and forsaking them. (Proverbs 15: 20)
- Children don’t have to curse your parents in any circumstances. (Matthew 15: 4, Proverbs 1:8, 6:20)
3. Family Helps Build Character
In addition to family being the basic unit of society, family helps build character.
Character is a very part of what defines people. Good and godly Character is formed as a result of the following:
- Patience and kindness
- Humility
- Gentleness (not rude)
- Willingness to learn from mistakes
- Endurance
- Belief in infinite possibilities
4. The 3 Pillars for Learning and Character Building
There are only 3 values that can help one build character in life. And these are: 1)hope, 2)faith and 3)love.
According to the Apostle Paul, hope, faith and love are the only things that always abide. But, “the greatest of these is love.”
Learning and character building in family should be about hope, faith and love.
Hope
- Hope is where we want to end (destination)
- Hope is more than just being optimistic
- Hope results from who we imagine to be or where we want to be in the future. This applies to individuals as well as family as a whole. It is a good exercise to practice as a family on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.
- Hope is a skill
- Requires training, experience and practice.
- A learned power to effectively do something
- A craft or the ability to master something
- Hope is a virtue
- A moral quality
- A particular way to live
- Implies strength and courage
- Makes one capable for acting
- Grace or excellence
- Hope is grounded in what God has in mind for us
Faith
- Faith is the fuel for love and hope.
- Faith is a virtue
- Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit meaning that we ask for it in prayer.
- Faith is what empowers us to move into our future.
- Faith makes what we hope for become real today. See Hebrews 11: 1.
Love
- Love is the only strategy we can faithfully serve our families.
- Love glues us up to God and each other.
- Love is the foundation for all the values we teach and learn in the context of family.
- Love always wins.
Hope, Faith and Love are 3 very important values to be taught and learned on a daily basis in family. Because they are values, then they also require practice and training. The more we practice, the better we get at them. And everyone else around us will feel safe and blessed around us!
This is a post based on the sermon, Serving Families, delivered at the Harris and Lake Park United Methodist Churches.
