Telling Our Story to Our Family
Family ought to be very special to us. We should want what is best for every member of our family and our extended family members, too. God wants us to prayerfully do what we can to help them in any way we can. The most important thing we can do for our family is to make sure they all know the gospel and come to know Jesus. Sometimes, this is hard because our family knows us very well. They have seen our failures, and they know our weaknesses. However, there is still something God wants us to do for them.
When Legion, the demon possessed man encountered Jesus, the Lord cast out all of the many demons who had possessed Him. Then, the man believed in Jesus as His Lord, and He wanted to go with Jesus as He left that area. (Mark 5:19) "But Jesus said, 'No, go home to your family and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful He has been.'" Jesus commanded this man to go and tell His story to His family. Anyone who knows Jesus has a story and we should share it with family and others.
Every one of us, as Christians, had a life before we put our trust in Jesus and He forgave our sins. We all did things that were wrong, and our family saw us doing those things. However, we came to hear the Good News that Jesus could save us from our sins and change our life, so we decided to receive His gift of salvation by grace through faith in Him. Then, He changed our life, so now we are growing to be more like Jesus, even though we are not perfect. When we tell that story to our family, they will see how Jesus was merciful to us and how we are different because of what He has done in our life.
Often, this is the best way to share the gospel with our family and others, since many people don't believe the Bible is God's Word, and many believe that all truth is relative. When either of those things are true, people are more likely to be convinced by our personal experience than by giving them verses from the Bible. They are living by what they think is best for them, but that doesn't work very well. Therefore, when they hear our story and see what the Lord has done for us, they realize the Lord could do the same for them. So let's all tell our stories to our families and see what Jesus can do in their lives.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Mark 7-9.