Family First

But he would not permit him but told him instead, "Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you." Mark 5:19

My cousin was very proud of me. He was my class mate from elementary to high school, so we share some common things. We were in a family gathering and he was telling everyone I was the manager at DZYA, a local radio station in Angeles City. I have to hurry to stop the mistake he was spreading. He was misguided and might have misunderstood that I was working for the radio station. I told him I was working for CYA and not DZYA. CYA is Christ's Youth in Action a movement for college students committed to bringing young people to the Lord Jesus Christ. At that time, I was serving and managing several staffers covering the whole Central Luzon. After we spoke, it hit my heart. How many times, I have told a stranger about my experience with the love of God but passed by cousin or an uncle who needed to hear the same good news. I spoke at retreats and prayer meetings about the life in Jesus yet I have not even volunteered to say a prayer before meals in a family gathering. I was giving bible studies to friends while I keep my mouth shut in a family gathering discussion. I find it easy to tell about God to others but when it comes to our family, I have this hesitation.

The man, who was healed by Jesus because he was possessed with unclean spirit, was instructed by Jesus to go home and tell his family the good news. The man pleaded to Jesus that he might stay with Him. Jesus pointed - go home and tell your family. Bible scholars believe the man did what Jesus told him. He went to off to Decapolis and proclaimed what Jesus did to him and everybody were amazed with his testimony. And why not? They are his family who knew him before.

Jesus is telling us an important life lesson here. He encourages us to proclaim His work within our homes. He is giving us the direction to share His goodness in our family reunions. He is calling us to speak about Christ with our children in our dinner table. Jesus is prodding sons and daughters to spend time enumerating to their parents what God has done to them.

Share God's love to everybody. Tell what He has done to you to everyone. To your neighbor. To your friends. To your classmates. To your office mates. Make sure tell your family first.