The call of parenting in the Kingdom

I have met many, many people who live with the false sense that they are supposed to forsake their families for the Kingdom of Heaven.  Some of these people understand this outright and some don't even see it but are driven by this principle from somewhere deep in their soul from somewhere they may not even know.  Their is this sense that they should only pursue God and His Kingdom work in order to please God.  It's as if their family is more of a hindrance to the pursuit of DOING God's work (which of course, humans can never really do God's work, God is actually quite capable Himself).

People see verses where Jesus seemingly shuns his family and says that his real family is the brothers and sisters in Christ.  He tells a young man not to say goodbye to his family because the Kingdom is of more value than his stupid family anyways (maybe not a a good interpretation of those verses hmmm?)  They read that Paul said we shouldn't really get married unless we are so pathetic that we get married just because we can't control our sexual desires.

These people are dead wrong.

God also chooses to be know as "Father."  Jesus is known as the "Son."  We are a part of his "family."  The church is the "Bride" of Christ.  Christians are his "children."  Marriage is an idea that actually came from.....yep....the Bible.  Having children is seen as a very high honor throughout much of the Old Testament (think the early Fathers).

I am a part of the Kingdom of Heaven only because Jesus brought it to earth and then died for the forgiveness of my sins.  I enter the Kingdom through my faith in Him and my acceptance of His Lordship in my life.  Therefore I have been given this through grace, not through work.  After I accept this grace I have become his slave and need to continue to die to my own desires and be filled with His Holy Spirit.  Who am I to stop the Holy Spirit's work in my family?

At this point in my life I have been called to serve Christ, serve my wife, serve my children, serve my church, and serve in the world at large, in that order.  That's how I understand it.  These extremists that believe that their families are not important to the work of God are going from #1 to #5 back to #4.  They are living unbalanced and that's why they are actually working against God.  Yes, against God.

I am embarrassed to write that it has taken me years to understand this.  By the grace of God I understand it now.  I included this picture of my daughter because I have been looking at it the last few days and marveling in her pure beauty.  She has been made just the way that she is by God.  My prayer is that I am open to God's work in her life so that she becomes all that God has made her to be.  I pray that I don't hurt her development.  I pray that I don't project my problems and pains onto her but help her to understand the world from God's perspective (found in the Bible).

Parenting is a "Kingdom" act.  If I fail as a parent I am failing in the Kingdom because I do not understand the scripture and have decided to live unbalanced and selfishly.

I pray that God continues to awaken us parents in our understanding of the holiness of Godly parenting.