Are You Caring For Your Family?

1 Timothy 5:4 (NIV)

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.

As baseball season 2014 winds down I want to share a story about one of my favorite ball players. Tim Burke was born on February 19, 1959 in Omaha, Nebraska. After attending the University of Nebraska, he entered professional baseball and began his Major League baseball career on April 8, 1985. In the early 1990's, Tim and his wife wanted to start a family, but then they discovered they were unable to have children. After much prayer, they decided to adopt four special-needs international children.

This led to one of the most difficult decisions in Tim's life. He discovered that the time on the road playing baseball was conflicting with the time his wife and children needed him to be a husband and a dad. Tim turned to the Lord and prayed and soon the decision became easy. After the 1992 season and eight years in the major leagues, he was going to retire from baseball to devote more time with his family. When he left the stadium for the last time, reporters asked why he was retiring at such an early age. He replied: "Baseball is going to do just fine without me. It's not going to miss a beat. But I'm the only father my children have. I'm the only husband my wife has. And they need me a lot more than baseball does."

One of the greatest ministries we can have is to your own family. It brings joy to your relatives and it is pleasing to God. Are you letting the things of this world get in the way of honoring and caring for your family?

 Dear Lord, we thank You for our family. We ask that You would show us today how we can be more loving and caring to each one of those I our family. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.