Family Matters

​Apart from being a popular show in the 90’s, Family Matters is a statement that has been true from the beginning of humanity. Little else sets a person up for success or failure like their family of origin. 

I was watching a reality TV show the other day all about falling in love and getting married with a ridiculously short time frame and no true support, but it makes for entertaining TV. One of the guys, Clay, was reflecting on how he wanted to avoid the way his dad behaved in his marriage.
 
After some talking it was apparent (to me at least) that in trying to avoid making those mistakes, Clay was shutting out his future wife and recreating those patterns. It reminded me of a great quote by Pete Scazzero:
 
                  “Jesus may live in your heart, but Grandpa is in your bones.”
 
If you are unfamiliar with Pete Scazzero, he is a pastor in America that does some great work in Emotional Spirituality and Discipleship. Pete encourages followers of Jesus to understand their family of origin and see that spiritual maturity is tied to our emotional maturity.
 
When you recognise Jesus as King of your life you are adopted into his family and become a son or daughter of God, it is not uncommon that people ignore or dismiss their own Earthly family. What I mean by that it that in finding acceptance in a new community and connection to God we can stop doing the hard work of dealing with our family of origin issues.
 
Many people find themselves growing in their career, raising of their own kids, an intimate relationship, or faith, and yet they do not deal with the cause of most of our dysfunction- our family of origin.
 
I am no expert in this area but in doing work over the years to deal with my own family struggles and pain points I have gained invaluable insight into how I have become who I am. It helps me in my marriage, faith, raising kids, and work by providing context. While not addressing all my brokenness, it gives context for a majority of why I do what I do and where I fall short.
 
Following Jesus requires you to grow in the key areas of discipleship, but it also requires you to grow emotionally as well. To do that you need to go back and address the fact that at the end of the day, Family Matters.

Author

Josh has been on staff at Lesmurdie Baptist Church since 2018. He is married to Marnel and they have 4 children together - Azaliah, Ezra, Zoelle, and Zion. What drives Josh is seeing people put their faith into action so Jesus can change lives in the here and now.