Family Bigger Than Title
That is why Jesus compared God's unconditional love to parental love. Even evil us know how to give only love as parents, so we can measure God's love by that (Matthew 7:9-10). But the love of human parents falls short of the perfect love of God. This is because it is an undeniable fact that even the love of parents, a blessing that God has given through nature, is colored and distorted by human selfishness. Pure natural grace no longer exists for us. Even the family has been distorted by the power of sin and has become the victim of violence, oppression, selfishness and greed. The family is never the kingdom of God, and the family also needs to be liberated and saved. No romantic fantasies about the home. We know how many newlyweds develop these fantasies and feel the emptiness of the fantasies crumbling within a few days. This is because the power of sin that lurks in man does not leave even the family alone.
A true "Mother's Day" shouldn't be a Mother's Day with bottles and pills. If you make your mother feel sorry for her because of sexism and forced unfair sacrifices, comfort her once a year, and on the other hand, praise her sacrifice and subtly instill the thought that she must sacrifice because she is a mother in the future. , this would be the wrong Mother's Day event.
The power of sin to distort the family, a gift from God, is manifested in sexism within the family. The husband's authoritarianism dehumanizes not only the wife but also the husband, and the unilaterally forced wife's sacrifice is deeply grievous for women and causes abnormal attachment to their children. Preferring boys over girls is also an act of parental selfishness, which is hurting the hearts of countless daughters of God. Children are a gift from God, and just being given is already a blessing. Through our children, we mature ourselves and learn love, sacrifice, patience and responsibility. Most of all, as parents, we experience the grace that can measure the deep love of our Heavenly Father, who generously gave even his only begotten Son, albeit faintly.
Another power of sin that distorts the family is paradoxically expressed as familism or familial selfishness. It is a misconception that regards the family as the ultimate goal or value of life and the last refuge or safety plate in life. Family selfishness that only thinks of my children and my children deepens the gap between the rich and the poor in our society, and injustice and corruption are widespread. The expanded selfishness that is not satisfied with what one eats and wants to secure a share for his children and even his grandchildren makes society sick.
The family selfishness and family supremacy prevailing in our society must be overcome. To idolize the family as everything in life is to destroy the family and make society sick. Jesus taught me that in order for me to live, my family, and society to live, I must turn my eyes to a greater value than a narrow blood group. The church is a larger family community that pursues these greater values, a new home of brothers and sisters of faith who have one Heavenly Father and follow His will. Neither the family nor the church are the kingdom of God itself. It is a community where the people of God on the pilgrimage to the kingdom of God are cultivating the dream of the kingdom invisible on earth, confirming its reality, and tasting it in advance. It is a sign of the kingdom of God and an experimental training ground for the kingdom of God. Homes and churches are like intermediate stops for the people of God on their pilgrimage to the kingdom of God, and only when we gain new strength there can we begin to work as a servant of the kingdom of God, God's people, and God's people in the workplace and society. You can fulfill your mission as a child well. *