I’ve been thinking about our family’s wonderful celebration for our 60th wedding anniversary. So much to celebrate. So many friends. So much planning and executing to make it all happen. My mind then turned to valuing our lives and what really matters. Our priorities have always been Faith, Family and Friends. A number of my recent weekly emails have talked about our Faith and how Christianity is so important that it is the template for our lives that gives us the joy of the present and the faith to look forward in comfort and peace.
That brings me to the second item on my list and that is family. So I wondered what does our Bible say about the value and importance of family?
First let me say that God designed families to be a source of love, support, and strength for us. It saddens me when I hear of family breakups or family disconnects and in some cases no communication between family members. I pray that if any of those situations exist we will make every effort to mend those relationships and make our families whole again.
So WHAT DOES the Bible say about families.
Ephesians 6: 1-4
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise:
that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Is there a clearer message of how an ideal family should function. But as we know, relationships fail, differences of opinion occur, and too often cause rifts in families we all wish didn’t occur. So what is our duty when these things happen. It should be, pray and pray again and again. God can mend many of these problems but it still takes two or more humans to ask forgiveness. Even if it isn’t our fault. Reaching out and communicating can often solve the problem. Don’t get me wrong there are no guarantees that it will work, but the effort should be made.
Exodus 20:12
Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Is there any more clear message of the value of those children who honor their parents. God has made promises in His word and with those promises come rewards and blessings. Honoring our parents is one of those wonderful promises and values in life which has a reward attached. Barb and I had wonderful loving and caring parents who were “Born Again Christians” Praise the Lord. God has blessed us with two children who have shown the respect the scriptures talk about.
God designed families to be a blessing to each member. Both near and far. God’s designs for everything are perfect, only humans mess it up. Psalms gives a very clear picture of what a family should be and the reason it will be.
Psalm 127: 1a & 3
Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it………………………..
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Psalm 128: 1
Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in His ways.
The breakups of families certainly cannot be laid entirely at the feet of the children. There are parents who have caused the problem. But, whoever has caused the problem it is still important that everyone make every effort to clear the matter up and seek to return the family to a communicating and loving group.
In Ephesians 5: 25-30 we are exhorted as husbands to love our wives just as Christ loved the church. None of us is perfect but as parents it is our duty to show love and respect for our spouse and provide the example for the children.
Colossians 3:21 advises fathers to not provoke our children but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. Disobedience from children is an opportunity to show the love that Christ showed to us. Discipline with Love. We always have Christ’s example of love without boundaries. Yet there are times of discipline from our God. Let us make every effort to show that love not only to our families, but to our church family and everyone we come in contact with. God’s Love is perfect and is designed to forgive all our flaws and foibles when we ask.
God is Love.
Services
When: Sunday Sep 3, 2023 09:00 am Breaking of Bread 10:15 am Fellowship Time 11:00 am Family Bible Hour
Speaker: Mark Andrade
Sermon Title:
Bible Ref: 2 Peter 7
Chapel Update
Although it feels late in the season our air conditioning system will be completed on Friday.
The installation is going very smoothly with the components matching perfectly with our 2019 gas furnaces.
Praise the Lord.
We are also in the midst of getting a price for a change to the dead front lawn.
It will become a no maintenance look.
The design will include a very large boulder (2-300 lbs) in the center of each side, smaller boulders (100 lbs+) scattered throughout a gravel (small pebbles) area. No grass cutting and no watering required.
We’ve been trying to figure how to put some scripture verses on the two large boulders or maybe just something such as “Jesus Saves”. Food for thought.
