Read: Colossians 3:13-14 (NCV)

Get along with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you. Do all these things; but most important, love each other. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity.

Reflect:

It has been said many times that our families are both the greatest source of joy and the greatest source of sorrow. Wouldn’t you agree?

Everything is not always as it seems. Some people appear to have it all together, at least based on their social media profiles.

I had lunch with a man who is looking ahead by living doing his best to live in the now. After more than thirty years, his medical practice is in transition and he has realized the impact of choices made regarding his family. Although this man is not a follower of Christ, he has chosen to make his family a priority going forward. For him, it means keeping communication open between him, his wife, his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren.

Smiling faces on Facebook don’t tell the whole story, do they? Our families know us best. They’ve seen all of the ugliness we avoid in our public lives, While we cannot change the past and we cannot control the future in any part of our lives,  what we can do, we should do. And we should make our families the priority in our relationships.

Respond:

How many of us have experienced the joy of family relationships? How about when we have been confronted by sorrow in our most important relationships?

Joy is generally easy, but sorrow? The verse above reminds us of the importance of living in a constant state of being willing to forgive others and the bottom line is the concept of Christian love – love that holds us together as one.