When Family and Ministry Collide | Part 4
In this deeply personal series, Global Impact Partners Josh and Brenda Lei Casey continue sharing their insight of raising children in Spain while serving as overseas church planters.
Recognize your personal and family idols.
When we hold on to the family idols that have been passed down for generations, we limit the space wherein the Holy Spirit has free reign in our family. What is a family idol? It’s not just a statue of wood or stone revered by pagan people. An idol is anything we set our hearts on, anything that masters or rules us, anything we trust, fear, or serve in the place of God. In other words, if there’s anything in your life you’re using to get the things that only God can provide, you need to check your idol worship.
Your family idol could be your lust for attention, your attachment to comfort, your demand for people to meet your needs. It also may come in the form of an overattachment to something that is, in itself, perfectly good. As John Calvin said, “The evil in our desire typically does not lie in what we want, but that we want it too much.”
Here’s what’s really difficult about family idols: some of them we’ve inherited from our parents, who inherited them from their parents, who had them passed down by their parents, and now they no longer look like idols, they’re just the way we’ve always done things in our family. Identifying these idols is difficult enough; getting rid of them is even harder. But the blessings we provide to our kids could be tremendous if we take the time to do so.
Before Gideon could ever save his people, he first had to go and destroy his father’s idols (Judges 6:25-27). Do you see the sequence here – first Gideon had to tear down idols his father wasn’t even worshiping anymore, then he was free and able to be used of God. And think about how different the story would have been if his dad had already gotten rid of those idols!
More importantly, think about how differently your family story could be if you take the time to destroy your own family idols. What if, when God calls your children out, they are able to respond immediately instead of having to first go back and tear down your idols?
Let one of the most beautiful promises in all of Scripture sink in: God may visit “the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation,” but He promises to show “steadfast love to thousands of those who love [Him]” (Deuteronomy 5:9-10). The three or four generations of passed-down idols may be hard to turn back, but the thousands of generations you could bless are worth it.
Be sure to check out Parts One, Two, and Three of this series!