Sep 18, 2023
A
life rooted in Jesus provides each person with the opportunity to
take off their old life and put on something brand new. This
question always follows: How is a person supposed to live
this new life in a family? Families and marriages can be
difficult places to live in unity and peace because of brokenness,
hurts, and past mistakes. Nothing is going to challenge a new life
in Jesus more than living in a family! However this is
a really an important question to answer because our culture
is desperately longing for the answer.
Here is an example of what I'm talking about. Author and professor,
John Christman wrote a film review of the film L'enfant (child), a
movie focused on the importance of the family in society. He
writes:
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are two of the most well respected and awarded European filmmakers over the past 20 years. One reviewer claims their films "grapple with a society that has lost touch with its moral underpinnings … [especially] how today's youth navigate this world without role models and moral direction." As Luc Dardenne once said, "We put [young adults] in a situation and ask the question: How are these people, who are now alone and without help from the past, going to find their way to be fully human?"
For instance, their film L'enfant (The Child) focuses on two young parents and their newborn son, Jimmy. Sadly, Jimmy is born into a moral vacuum. His mother, Sonia, spends most of her time walking the streets with her drifter boyfriend Bruno, who has no idea how to be a father. It's hard to tell who is "L'enfant,"—is it Jimmy or his mother and father?
It's a beautiful and heartbreaking film, but Luc Dardenne claims that it has a powerful and prophetic message. "When you go back in time," he said, "[the film] is the story of the father and mother; and the future is the story of our children and their children. The day that we are unable to be fathers and mothers, then humanity is finished."
The
apostle Paul in writing Colossians teaches Jesus'
supremacy over all of creation, this includes marriage and the
family. In rooting ones life in Jesus, people are tapping into the
best way to live life. In fact, Paul teaches Christians that Jesus
himself models what it looks like to best live in a marriage and
family.
To learn more about how a life devoted to Jesus can change your
family situation, give a listen to part five of
our Rooted
sermon series.