1 Timothy 5:8 –
But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.
This is another verse that cuts to the core of many people’s beliefs that deeds are not required. For salvation this is true, but for living a life pleasing to God we need to rethink how we live after salvation. You can always find laundry lists of things one should do as Christians like this chapter. We need to live our lives different for reasons beyond pleasing God, but for showing others the joy of a healthy relationship with God. We tend to like the lack of responsibilities a non-works based relationship with God, because it relies only on praise and worship.
Believe me worship is big, but it places us in a one-way relationship with God. God is looking for more than arms lifted high in a praise song, He asks us to actually work for the kingdom. Spiritual gifts are to be used, but not as a crutch. I have said it more than once, I don’t have this gift or that and therefore I don’t need to do that for God. Just because you are not comfortable taking to new people doesn’t mean that you should not do it because your “gift” lies elsewhere. But I am drifting off topic.
The key point to pull from this verse is being “WORSE than unbelievers.” That if anything should be a wakeup call! The church work days and mission trips are great opportunities to help and do what God expects of us. But they are models to what we should be doing in our day to day lives, not just what we should be doing once a year. Today’s society following Paul’s teaching on helping relatives is very difficult, ours are in California. So when they need our help, it’s difficult to do so in Georgia. I believe this is where family and community start break down in today’s world. We lose contact with our family and then slowly our community, till we are just living in a box and working in another. I think community is about serving others without expectations of anything in return. This verse had me in so many directions, but if anything take from this that God expects us to do more than just pray for “that person”.