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Biblical focus keeps families grounded
Melissa Lilley, BSC Communications
December 01, 2010
5 MIN READ TIME

Biblical focus keeps families grounded

Biblical focus keeps families grounded
Melissa Lilley, BSC Communications
December 01, 2010

A husband and wife can get

so busy doing different things they forget to take time to care for themselves.

Or, a husband gets burned out from ministry and is depressed. A son shoplifts

and makes staying out all night a habit. That same son a few years later moves in

with his girlfriend and they have a baby.

Eddie Thompson, a family

ministry senior consultant with the Baptist State Convention (BSC), began

“Family Shock: How to Keep Your Family Strong in a Crazy World” by describing

situations that families may come up against.

Thompson shared with

participants in a breakout session during the BSC’s annual meeting that those

weren’t just random examples of “family shock.”

“All those things happened

in my home,” he said. Thompson has experienced much pain and struggle within

his family. Just a few years after he married he found himself, along with his

wife, wondering if they could really make the marriage work.

Thompson and his wife did

not despair nor give up, although they both thought about doing so. They

allowed God to teach them, and now Thompson is able to use what he learned

during the difficult times to comfort others going through similar situations.

God is allowing him to teach out of his experiences.

He wants parents and

families to discover how God’s Word is all they need to keep their families

strong during the chaotic and confusing times.

BSC photo by Melissa Lilley

“We are in a truth struggle,” said Eddie Thompson, family ministry senior consultant with the Baptist State Convention. “We need to learn who we are in Christ.”

Avoiding family shock begins with developing a right way of thinking and

understanding that a believer’s identity is found in Jesus Christ and in

nothing else.

“We are in a truth

struggle,” Thompson said. “We need to learn who we are in Christ.”

Families also need to

remember who is actually supposed to be giving leadership to the family. It’s

not mom or dad or a child. John 16:13 says the Holy Spirit guides believers in

truth.

Humility is the first step

toward giving the Holy Spirit leadership in the family. Husbands and wives must

be willing to admit when they are lost and have no idea what to do or where to

turn next. “The Holy Spirit ought to be the real leader in our families,”

Thompson said. “We don’t know what to do until the Holy Spirit tells us what to

do.”

Thompson shared that prayer

— the right kind of prayer — is critical to a family’s health and gave a

personal example to illustrate what he meant by right praying. When Thompson

found out his son’s girlfriend was pregnant he was already “fatigued from the

war” that had been raging with his son for years.

So Thompson immediately

refused when his son called and asked him to bring furniture for his new

apartment.

Although Thompson had agreed that his son could have the furniture

from the family’s old house, his son wanted him to load it all up, drive

several hours and then unload it for him. Thompson saw the request as

incredibly selfish.

However, Thompson’s wife

urged him to pray about it, and before long they had not only delivered the

furniture but decorated the apartment and filled the kitchen with groceries and

pots and pans as well. Later that day Thompson’s cell phone rang and a quiet,

tender voice on the other end whispered, “Daddy, daddy, thank you for helping

me.” Thompson never, ever thought he’d hear his son say thank you.

Through that experience

Thompson learned he had not prayed rightly for his son. He asked God to stop

his son’s sinful behavior because he and his wife were in pain; because they

were tired of the war. Thompson prayed selfishly because his motives for

praying were really directed toward himself; he wanted relief and comfort.

Instead, Thompson learned he needed to offer up prayers that honored God and

sought God’s purpose for his son. Thompson urged husbands and wives to maintain

a right view of marriage. Marriage is not meant to just bring happiness,

because if that were the case, “you would need a new marriage every few years,”

Thompson said.

“What if God’s purpose for

marriage goes beyond happy? What if marriage is a giant sanctification machine

meant to make you holy? If you aim for holiness, you’ll get the happiness along

with it.”

He closed out the session by

reminding parents that Col. 3:15 is a call to live in peace. If God’s peace is

not ruling in the hearts of believers, the family will never experience peace.