Family Matters
I used to enjoy watching this show with Urkel and the gang. While there was dysfunction, there was also love inside the family dynamic. I believe that family was the Lord’s idea. He is the One Who created male and female and told them to “be fruitful & increase in number”. (Genesis 1:28 NIV) I know without a doubt that the most precious gift I have ever received outside of my salvation is my family. I have a wonderful, amazing wife and 5 incredible kids (now 7 counting my daughters-in-law)! I do believe that much is learned about God and life inside the family. Throughout scripture, God has a chosen people – the descendants from His wrestling buddy Jacob. The Lord leads them. The Lord protects them. The Lord provides for them. The Lord also disciplines them. Check this out…
1 Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you – against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:
2 ‘You only have I chosen
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your sins.’ (Amos 3:1-2 NIV)
I believe that the family is the backbone of our culture. I love Olive Garden’s by-line in their commercials: “Olive Garden: When you’re here, you’re family”! There are many instances when friends and co-workers behave like family. I worship and serve at Southern Hills Christian Church and they are family. My real estate office is family. Our local board of REALTORS is family. My wife works in a doctors office and they are family. Families are everywhere!
This all has a warm cozy feeling about it until someone hurts the family or someone acts outside the boundaries of the family group. Struggles inside the family dynamic can be as difficult as they are wonderful. When someone close to you hurts you, it stings at a deeper level. It takes loving discipline to keep family cohesion and to restore the brokenness. It takes patient leadership and forgiveness to heal broken families. The Lord modeled this throughout scripture.
…The Lord disciplines those He loves.. (Proverbs 3:12 NIV)
Family is worth fighting for even though it can be very painful and stressful. The Lord is more obvious inside my family than in any other relationship I have.
Pressing On!
Dwayne