Wendy's Blog

One Big Happy (Dysfunctional) Family

睇完呢篇devotion, 反醒...自己係咪好似作者所講﹐"trying so hard to be loved for who we are not" 呢? 當然﹐因著熟悉程度不同既緣故﹐有時大家只係睇見片面既我﹐唔係話我專登淨係俾好個面人睇。不過﹐無論如何﹐我真係好努力甘做一個真既人。真我﹐有好多唔好既地方﹐有時到一個地步﹐連自己都好討厭自己。但係明白到神係當我重係罪中﹐就先愛我為我死。又知道成聖係一個過程既時候﹐就覺得鬆一口氣。

都係個句﹐多謝弟兄姐妹係我好老土好麻煩好激動好討厭好長氣(哈哈﹐就好似宜家甘)既時候都包容我。大家學習彼此相愛啦﹐唔係愛果個外表好似好好﹐好開心﹐好乖既你同我﹐而係果個有不少陰暗面﹐好需要神既真我!

THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN® LIFE Daily Devotional October 26, 2004

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One Big Happy (Dysfunctional) Family
by John Fischer


The family that thrives is the one that can absorb conflict and failure and still exhibit love and acceptance at the end of the day. The family that fears its conflict and buries its unseemliness under a cloak of good impressions is the one that creates highly dysfunctional people who lug around suitcases of unresolved baggage and never get down to the real thing. Sometimes maintaining a “happy” family can be the worst thing you can do. It can drive a lot of powerful emotions underground, where they will eventually surface in unhealthy ways.

How much of being a Christian and going to church is all about appearances? Too much, at least in my experience. Too many of us act as if it were our responsibility to make God look good by showing ourselves as shiny happy people. In the end, we make God look bad, because we are dishonest in the worst sort of way; we are dishonest with ourselves. Do this long enough and you lose track of who you really are. I find that a lot of Christians get so far removed from who they are that they need professional counseling to help them face the truth about themselves. Most of this comes from getting good at living an impression rather than living the truth. We are too good for our own good.

Why is it that PKs and MKs (preacher's kids and missionary's kids) always seem to have a reputation of being the most troubled kids in the church? Because pastors and missionaries have the most pressure on their families to maintain the best possible reputation. After all, isn't everyone looking to them to model the happy, successful Christian family? And so a disconnect develops between who we are and who we appear to be, and the wider that gulf, the more unhealthy the person.

How do we fix this? Give up pretext and love each other for the messes that we are. Isn't that the way God loves us? He sent His son to die for us while we were still in our sin, and that death is like a billboard for why we continually need Him.

”Oh, foolish Galatians! What magician has cast an evil spell on you? For you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ's death as clearly as though I had shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross.” Galatians 3:1 (NLT)

“Have you lost your senses?” Paul wrote to the Galatians. “After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” Galatians 3:3 NLT

Our human effort always tries to cover everything up. Our life in the spirit brings it all out into the open because Jesus died so we wouldn't have to hide. Let's love each other for who we are, instead of trying so hard to be loved for who we are not.

John Fischer is an author, speaker, and song writer based in Southern California. His latest book, Love Him in the Morning has been released by Revell Publishing.
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posted by 板板子 @ 12:02 AM