“Changing The Family Tree”

Thursday, September 27, 2012

My boyfriend of two years is having a very hard time, and I am worried about him slipping into depression.  He is upset because he lives at home with his verbally and emotionally abusive father whom has been handicapped for the majority of his life and strung out on pain pills.  No matter how hard he tries, he cannot escape his father’s anger.  He is an amazing man but has begun to believe that because he was brought up by his father, he cannot succeed in life.

To make it worse, we are both newly saved, and this conflict with his dad is taking him away from this amazing blessing and making him forget how important forgiveness is.  He doesn’t see how he can forgive his father when he is constantly hurting him.  I was wondering if you could please help me find some words of inspiration from the Bible because although he has lost it in himself, he still has faith in the Bible.  Please help me show him that he is his own person and deserves to live a happy, healthy life.  He is an amazing person with an amazing heart, and he has been smothered by the hate of his father.

Sincerely,
Souly Concerned

Dear Souly Concerned,

Many times the burdens that we face when we first begin to obey God are the very hardest.  Jesus compared it to seed falling upon different types of soil.  The seed is the Word of God, and we are the soil.  Sometimes people are rocky soil, and the Word can’t take root because we can’t handle the trials of temptation.  Sometimes the soil is full of thorns, and the Word gets choked out by the cares and riches of this life.  Sometimes the seed falls beside the road, and the devil snatches the Word from our hearts before we even have a chance to grow.  And sometimes, the soil is rich and fertile, and the Word takes root and grows into a mighty plant (Lk 8:11-15).  You and your boyfriend are in the earliest stages of development.  Now is the time when you are most likely to be crushed and the Word snatched from your hearts and minds.  The devil is a roaring lion, just waiting to devour souls (1 Pet 5:8).

You don’t have to have great parents to be godly people.  The gospel routinely sets children against their parents… Christ said it would (Matt 10:34-36).  If Christ said that being a christian would make people fight against their upbringing, He also knows that it is possible to be victorious in that fight.  No temptation has overtaken you that others haven’t been through before (1 Cor 10:13).  You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Php 4:13).  You and your boyfriend need to be studying God’s Word and growing like babies longing for milk (1 Pet 2:2).  We recommend you continue to ask questions, continue to compare what people say to the Scriptures, and never accept anything less than Bible proof for everything you do.  You may find interest in listening to classes from our congregation at sermons.mvchurchofchrist.org.  God can do anything if we trust in His Word.

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