May 17th, 2023

Hey Church Family!Family is something that shapes us in profound ways.  Family is complicated.  It's also deep.  There are incredible highs and depressing lows when it comes to families.  Our families can bring out the best in us and the worst in us.  They can make us fee great and horrible.  For many of us, family is a mixture of both.

As you think about your family, there's an important question I'd like you to wrestle with:  What is your hope for your home?  What do you want to see happen?  It's a significant question.  Do you hope for peace?  For your kids to grow up and become productive members of society?  Do you hope to survive?  Do you hope to stick around long enough?  What is your hope?

We all have hopes for our families, but what do you do with them?  The best answer— give them to Jesus.  Jesus wants our hopes and our dreams.  He also wants our homes.  Not because he's possessive, but because he knows that our hearts can quickly shift our affection from him to our hopes or even our homes.  He knows that as long as our hope for our home holds on to us, he can't have us.

Jesus offers one simple solution:  lay it down.  Surrender it.  Because he knows that life—abundant life—comes through death.  It's the power of the cross.  Things that die at the cross don't stay dead.  They are miraculously resurrected.  Its why he longs for us to give ALL to him.

Do you know what happens when we hold on to our hopes for our families?  We end up walking away sad.  (Just ask the rich young ruler in Mark 10.)  We end up left out of the life God wants for us.  If we seek to control and hold on to our hopes, we will never see all that God has in store for us.

So, my challenge for you this week:  Wrestle with the question, what is your hope for your family?  Then give that hope to God and allow him to take it.  He just might have something far greater to give you.

Together in Christ,
Pastor Michael