A few days ago I was Skyping with one of my really good friends who's really more like a brother to me than just a friend. We were talking about the passage where Jesus says to leave your family to follow Jesus. Both of us felt a little uncomfortable with that because we know from personal experience and from others' experiences that sometimes our families really need us and we can't just leave them.
While talking with him, a thought came to my mind which then surprised the both of us because it makes sense. Not that I'm saying this is definitely what Jesus meant, but this is my interpretation of it: Jesus tells us to give up our family and follow Him which to me means to take our families away from the center of our lives, away from our focus and to put Jesus as the focus of our lives and our priority over everything else. However, all throughout the Old and New Testament, God calls us to take care of those in need (such as the orphan, the widow, the stranger, the poor), to love our neighbor as ourselves. And our "neighbors," really, are everyone. So, in that case, I feel like as long as Jesus is at the center of our lives, if our parents and family are needy then they are indeed the neighbors we must love and take care of. Of course, if we strongly feel like God is calling us to be somewhere else and do something completely different, then we must do what we are told and trust God. God wouldn't lead us away from the needy and not take care of them. Others will be sent to take care of our families if we are sent somewhere else. God does not abandoned his beloved.
I love having deep conversations with people. God always ends up speaking to me either through me or the other person I am talking with. It's amazing how He wants to be involved in every part of our lives, even in conversations we have with others.
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