Today’s Scripture: 2 Samuel 15:9b-12
So Absalom went to Hebron. 10 But while he was there, he sent secret messengers to all the tribes of Israel to stir up a rebellion against the king. “As soon as you hear the ram’s horn,” his message read, “you are to say, ‘Absalom has been crowned king in Hebron.’” 11 He took 200 men from Jerusalem with him as guests, but they knew nothing of his intentions. 12 While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel, one of David’s counselors who lived in Giloh. Soon many others also joined Absalom, and the conspiracy gained momentum.
13 A messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell David, “All Israel has joined Absalom in a conspiracy against you!”
14 “Then we must flee at once, or it will be too late!” David urged his men. “Hurry! If we get out of the city before Absalom arrives, both we and the city of Jerusalem will be spared from disaster.”
Today’s Devotional
David’s family was not perfect. That’s an understatement. One of his son’s raped one of his daughters. Another son killed his brother. That same son tried to overthrow his father and become King. It seems that most of David’s later life was caught up with the problems caused by his kids. Today we would call this family “dysfunctional”. However, I’ve never really liked that term. Families are families. Sometimes they work well, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes individuals in families act with love, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes things happen that rock the peace of the family. Rather than label a family dysfunctional – maybe we can call them “a work in progress”.
All families are works in progress. Families are complex systems made up of complex individuals with separate egos and ego needs. When you put all these ingredients together, they sometimes don’t mix well. And sometimes they explode. This goes double for church families!
But all families are a work in progress. No family is perfect. We are going to get things wrong. Individuals in our families are going to make us mad, disappoint us, and keep us up in the night worrying about them. But our job is to keep working on it.
Our job is to keep on loving. Our job is to ask for forgiveness for how we treat each other and to grant forgiveness for the way they treat us. Our job is to live like Christ.
Family work is hard work. In fact, living as Christ inside a family might be the hardest place to do so! And yet families are a gift from God.
So keep working on yours. It’s worth it.
Today’s Prayer
God thank you for our families – even though they frustrate us sometimes. Help us to keep working on them. And help us to be more like Christ as we interact with them.
Amen
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