Guarding the Family
Psalm 127
The Christian family is God’s best example of Himself to the world. In fact the purpose of a godly Christian family is to be a reflection of God. In other words, we are to point the way to Jesus by the love, honor and respect that we show within the family. Society is bombarding us with attacks that we are old fashioned and not keeping up with the times. Planned Parenthood, the women’s liberation movement and gay rights and similar forces are infiltrating us on every side. They are saying that all roles are the same and that we are equal in everyway. This is not only untrue but very unrealistic confusing to our children and us. God’s Word, the Bible, clearly states that the husband is to be the primary breadwinner and the spiritual leader of the family (Ephesians 5:22-23; Colossians 3:18-19). Not that the wife has no spiritual leadership or cannot work outside of the home but her primary responsibility is to keep the home in order and create a family atmosphere as the husband/father is out earning a living. This is the optimum picture of what we are called to do. There will be overlap and sharing but this is the ideal picture. The negative tendency that can occur is that the wife and mother tends to feel less fulfilled and that she is not contributing to the family as much as her husband. The husband can also feel that he is superior and more valuable than he ought. He speaks of being the one who earns the money. Such statements grow out of the flesh and shoot the relationship in the foot, so to speak.
Our love for each other must grow out of a deep relationship with the Lord (Colossians 3:12-17). Look at how He has treated us. We must attribute to Him all the blessings he has given us. Our intellect, our finances, our resources, our job, home, family is all a result of His doing not ours. Some of you mistakenly see some of your blessings as a burden and must change your attitude from being bitter to becoming better. There will be times in our lives that one or the other will not be performing at optimum capacity, and our flesh will want us to feel superior and hurl hurtful degrading statements to the other. Guard your tongue. Words can do great damage to a relationship. Our giving and serving must again be based on the grace that we have experienced from Calvary, not merit. Everyone is valuable in the family. Everyone dresses out for the game. Our flesh screams out for recognition power and gratification. This feeling comes as standard equipment from the fall of Adam and Eve. Don’t play the blame game because we all can find fault and feel superior at times.
Selfishness (James 4:1) is a continual battle that we all face, and must be squelched daily. Give all your expectations to the Lord. We cannot put our expectations on people because sooner or later they will disappoint us. When we put our hopes and expectations on the Lord He will never fail. (Psalm 62:5) Expectations need to be yielded to Him. God enables us to do what He has called us to do. Living as a godly family that reflects Jesus is not impossible because it is HIMpossible.
We are to guard our families and keep it holy to the Lord. Our children are watching as many others. Our calling is to be in the world but not of the world. Set your sight on heaven and not by this world’s standards.
