By Matt Osborne, Staff Writer

Bronny James, the 19-year-old son of NBA superstar LeBron James, has finally been cleared by doctors to play basketball at USC after suffering a cardiac arrest in July.

A family representative stated that Bronny (currently, a freshman) would begin practicing with his teammates next week and likely return to games shortly afterward.

Naturally, LeBron is very excited about the prospect of watching his son play his first collegiate game and has acknowledged he’d be willing to miss his own game with the Los Angeles Lakers to be at his son’s debut.

James told reporters following Thursday night’s contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder, “Whenever he’s cleared and ready to have his first game, I already told my teammates that if they play on the same day we’re playing, I’m going to have to catch them the next game. Family over everything … But definitely got to see Bronny’s first game whenever he’s cleared and ready to go.”

Regardless of your feelings about LeBron as a player, it’s admirable that he places such a high emphasis on supporting his son.

As followers of Jesus, we see very clearly from the pages of Scripture that God places an incredibly high value on the family unit, as well.

The importance of the family was established in the Garden of Eden when the Lord said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24; ESV).

For all believers, some of the most important ministry we’ll ever have is in our household. God has instituted the family as a means by which people can be discipled and grow in Christlikeness as they learn to sacrificially love the people around them.

Here are just a handful of verses from the Bible that demonstrate how serious God is about members of a family unit faithfully fulfilling their duties:

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12; ESV).

“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it” (Proverbs 22:6; NLT).

“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband (Ephesians 5:33; NIV).”

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4; ESV).”

There are so many things in life that constantly vie for our attention. If we aren’t intentional, we can easily fail to invest an appropriate amount of time in cultivating God-honoring relationships within our family.

While serving people outside of our immediate family is incredibly important, we must recognize that God has instituted our family as a primary focus of ministry.

Few things in ministry will have the capacity to make a lasting impact like years of intentionally pouring our time and energy into our family members and seeing them be conformed more into the likeness of Christ.

Today, let’s examine if we have our priorities in the right place, ensuring that we are doing what God has called each of us to do in the context of our families. It might even mean we should skip “our game” to support them at theirs!

I’m Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the family You have blessed me with. Please help me see the importance of the family unit, and to faithfully live out the role that You have given me. May my family be pleasing and glorifying in Your sight. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.