Stop Following Families. Start Loving Yours.
There's a problem hiding in plain sight — on the coffee table, on the phone in your hand. A generation of Christians can name every child on a reality show family. They know the drama, the schedule, the next episode airing. But they cannot tell you the name of the widow two pews back who hasn't had a visitor in a month. who can tell you the drama, the schedule, the next episode airing — but couldn't tell you the name of the widow two pews back who hasn't had a visitor in a month.
Here is the irony. These same Christians will mimic a family they have never met — imitate their habits, quote their sayings, defend them online — with a devotion they refuse the elders God has set over their own souls. Call it what it is. That is not admiration. That is disobedience that has learned to look harmless.
Hebrews 13:17 leaves no room for negotiation: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." Your pastor watches for your soul. He will give account for it. A family on a screen owes you nothing and will answer for nothing on your behalf. Yet you will submit to a stranger's curated life faster than you will submit to the man who actually knows your sin, your struggles, and your name.
God never told you to follow a family. But He did give you a local assembly to submit yourselves to — a body of believers to bear your burdens, and for you to bear theirs (Galatians 6:2). This is not optional. This is the pattern God laid down before television, before YouTube, before any of it existed. A family on a screen cannot visit you in the hospital. They cannot rebuke you in love. They cannot sit across the table and tell you the truth, because they do not know you — and they never will.
Beloved, name it for what it is: discontentment. The same restlessness the world has always had, dressed up in a Christian label. Paul learned, in whatsoever state he was, therewith to be content (Philippians 4:11). You will not learn contentment binge-watching somebody else's family.
You'd never unsubscribe from that family without a word. So why do you leave your local church that way without a second thought?
Turn the television off on Sunday morning. Unsubscribe from the reality-show family. Show up to the house of God. Love the imperfect families sitting near you at your local assembly. Pray for their kids. Your growth will not come through people who do not know you exist. It will come in a pew. On your knees. Next to people who know your name — and love you anyway.
Pastor Fortunato
Founding Pastor & Preacher of the Word
Pilgrim Baptist Church — Cookeville, Tennessee
https://pilgrimbaptist.church/
https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/pilgrimbaptist/