Ask Pastor Mike Live

Speaker 1

Are we called to treat elderly in-laws like they're actually our parents, even if they're not believers or respectful toward us? My husband and his family are nominal Muslims. For instance, they're not open to hearing about Christ. We've tried.

Okay, Gina, are we to treat elderly in-laws, right, like they're actually our parents? Well, yes, insofar as you and your husband are one, and as one, you have responsibility for all of your parents. Right. I think about me and my wife. I've got two living parents; she's got two living parents. They're elderly. My parents are elderly, I guess is okay. Hopefully, my mom's not listening, getting offended. But yeah, we got to care for them, and we do. We care for them.

I would treat my mother-in-law as though she were my mother and my father-in-law like he was my father. By that, I mean if they had a need, I would meet it. If they had a problem, I'd fix it. I would do what I can to care for them because my job is not to obey them. At this point, as an adult, my job is to care for them, whatever it is they need. My mother-in-law is going blind, and my father-in-law is ailing and is now in an assisted home. Just a lot of things. My parents need help with things; my mom's just been through cancer. So all those things, they're going to need practical help.

That's what it means for me as an adult Christian to care for my family, which includes my in-laws. I have no distinction between my parents and my in-laws. There's no difference there in the sense that I'm ready to care. I'm ready to go the extra mile, stay the extra hour, and spend the extra dollar to take care of my parents and my mother-in-law and father-in-law.

Okay, if they're not interested in hearing about Christ, which I can relate to—I have a mother-in-law not interested in that—that's fine. I'm still going to care for them. Do I want to share the gospel? Yes. Do we share the gospel? Yes. And you say you've tried. I think it's the responsibility of every adult Christian to share the gospel with their non-Christian in-laws and parents. Do that. But it doesn't mean that I have to be responsible for leading them to Christ. I'm only responsible for giving them the gospel. So do that.

If they're nominal Muslims, I live next door to nominal Muslims. They're not interested in hearing about Christ. I want to be good neighbors, right? I have a responsibility to be good neighbors, and I'm going to treat them well. If they're in need, if my neighbor falls down and breaks his leg, I'm going to be there to help him.

So you can do that even with two radically different worldviews and two radically different theologies. No problem. If they don't want to hear about Christ, it is a problem for them. But my job is to get the blood of their eternal state off of my hands by sharing the gospel with them. So keep sharing the gospel, Gina, who's texted me, and I think that is the most important thing. Caring for them, if they're your parents, is biblically spelled out in Scripture.