Game Changer Week 1 Devotional Day 3

Day 3 – Wednesday

Daily Devotional

Read

Mark 6:2-3; Mark 3:21; John 7:1-5

Ask

Have you ever experienced people (especially family!) taking offense at your faith?

Reflect

I did not grow up in a Christian home, but came to faith at the age of 30, when my daughters were still young. When I began attending church and verbalizing my faith as an adult, one particular family member objected to me teaching my faith to my children, telling me that it was like child abuse. Our relationship was strained for many years until this person understood that I was not trying to influence their own beliefs.

Jesus had already experienced rejection by his family, as we saw in Mark 3. In today’s John passage, his brothers were daring him to prove himself, because they did not believe him. They thought he was at best, a fraud—at worst, certifiably crazy. We don’t have insight into his relationships with them as children, but as adults it is safe to say, their relationships were strained! How have your family members responded to your faith?

I’ve come to realize that my family member’s objection arose from the brokenness of their own experience. They had felt coerced and manipulated in a youth organization that masks the meaning of certain rituals and practices until a person reaches a certain level of participation. This person equated my faith-based parenting with that coercive experience. Today we have a healthier relationship, though they still avoid conversations about my faith.

Think of a family member who has been offended by your faith. Can you recognize the brokenness from which they respond? Pray for them, asking God to heal their hurt, with no other agenda than to see them healed. Pray for their openness to things of faith.