To hear this Morning Devotion, please click
Never give up on a relative’s spiritual awakening
.
.
One of the toughest challenges a Christian can face is a family member’s rejection of Christ as Lord.
It pains the believer in a variety of ways, as many of you know firsthand.
Yet, if the believer’s faith in God is authentic, there is an unending flow of prayer to God that — someday — that loved one will come to Jesus or perhaps return to Jesus.
There has to be more than prayer, though.
I was reminded this morning during my reading from Acts 1 that Jesus faced the same challenge of family members rejecting His Lordship.
You’ll recall that Jesus’ siblings caved in to peer pressure during His time of ministry and refused to follow Him as Messiah.
Some of them even acted resentfully and spoke to Him with sarcasm.
Yet, after His trial, crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus’ brothers had a change of heart.
After Jesus’ ascension, the 11 apostles returned to Jerusalem and joined a group of women including Jesus’ mother, Mary, and, according to Acts 1:14, the brothers of Jesus.
Forty days earlier, these brothers had believed that Jesus was a misguided, Messianic wannabe.
Now they realized that they were the ones who had been wrong.
And they were convinced that being with the apostles, despite the certain backlash from the religious establishment, was the right thing for them.
It is SO comforting to me to see that Jesus’ family finally acknowledged His identity and His Lordship over their lives.
Their change of heart didn’t happen just because of Jesus’ earlier words or just because of His earlier prayers. It wasn’t even just because of Jesus’ humble actions on behalf of others that they chose to convert.
I’m convinced that it took the combination of Christ’s words, prayers and actions and the passage of time before His unsaved brothers seriously considered embracing Him as Lord.
And I’m convinced that, for many of you, your family member’s change of heart toward Christ won’t happen just because of your Christian words or just because of your continuing prayers or just because of humble, others-focused actions they observe in your life.
I believe that for many of you, it will take the combination of your words, prayers, actions and the passage of time before your unsaved relatives embrace Christ.
It CAN happen, though.
It did for Jesus. And it can for you.
Just keep speaking as Jesus did, praying as Jesus did, serving others as Jesus did and patiently waiting as Jesus did.
As always, I love you
Martin
