Are You Putting Family Above God?

Family is important! We should have a loyalty and concern for our family members that places them in high priority. Parents should be nurturing their children and helping them mature. Adult children should be showing their parents honor in tangible ways.

But we must be careful not to let our focus on family distort our priorities. Sometimes family can become a convenient excuse for neglecting other purposes God has for us.

We need to ask ourselves some hard questions:  

Are we indulging our children and encouraging their selfishness or are we teaching them to think of others (Philippians 2:3-4)?

Are we focusing on the wants and needs of one family member whild neglecting otherneglecting responsibilities to other family members (parents, siblings, grandparents) to focus on our children? 

Or are we making sacrifices and teaching our children to make sacrifices (Matthew 16:24)?

Are we seeking our purposes or God's purposes (Matthew 6:33)?

God doesn't want us to neglect our family. But neither does He want us to put their desires above His purposes (Ephesians 2:10). 

Matthew 10: 37-38 makes this clear:

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

For more on family priorities:
A Wheel, Not a List
Needs vs. Wants
Selfish Marriages