For thought and meditation

[rl69]

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.—Exodus 20:12 (http://harvest.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4f108f827aed8d503b5fca9fa&id=91e0696eae&e=3dd732485b)Few things in life can bring us as much pleasure or pain as our families. When things are working well in the family, it's great. When things are not going so well, it's tough. Parents have tension with children. Children have tension with parents. Husbands have tension with wives. Wives have tension with husbands. Then there are the in-laws. Families are complex. But God established the family.

In the Ten Commandments, before a word is said about how we treat one another, God starts with the family: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you" (Exodus 20:12 (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/x-apple-data-detectors://2)).

In Genesis we have God bringing Adam and Eve together. He started with the family. He created the family. And He—and He alone—defines the family. God loves the family.

There is only one picture that God gives to a lost world to show His love for the church and the church's love for Him. That is marriage. He says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25 (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/x-apple-data-detectors://3)), and "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord" (verse 22).

Effectively, here is what God is saying: "Look at this Christian couple right here. See the way that husband loves his wife? That is how I love this church, My people. See how that wife loves her husband? That is how My church loves Me."

Because of that, when a Christian family starts to unravel and when Christian people get divorced, that is devastating in many ways to the testimony of believers in a given community.

It has been said that a family can survive without a nation, but a nation cannot survive without the family

[Boaz]

Thank you rl69 . This is a lesson for all . The family is under attack from every angle , popular society encourages self-indulgence over anything morally right . Government sponsored infant genocide through state funded abortion . Marriage is by convenience and not commitment , most ask someone if they are .....'with' someone now not if they are married . Marriage traditionally and biblically requires love and commitment , not just shacking up producing unloved children . Destroy the family and you destroy the society/nation .... you can look around and figure that out right now .

[Pine Baron]

What's lost is the real meaning and understanding of "commitment". I agree with Boaz, it's now all about convenience and selfish desire with no thought to overall consequences or responsibility. So sad.

[Preacher Jim]

Only commandment with a promise from God.

[Blackwater]

What a great post, RL. I was extremely lucky, and had both a great Mom and a great Dad. I still love and honor them, though both are now gone from this realm. I've talked to a number of folks who weren't quite so lucky, and one of the most humbling and heart rending things I've ever seen is some who had absolutely terrible and unthinkable upbringing, and yet, honored their parents by saying, "They just didn't realize what they were doing." It always made me remember some of Christ's last words on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

These have usually been prisoners and parolees, who I got to know in some depth, and were shining examples, I believe, of the real value of prison ministries like those WRideout and others here conduct. I think I've never been quite so humbled as by guys who came through the absolute worst mankind has to offer, and yet, STILL came to the light.

I look back at my own situation, and all the blessings I was given, and how I STILL tended to want to stray sometimes, and it's SO humbling to see some who've been through probably the worst man can be subjected to, and STILL come to light. There's an awful lot we can learn from prisons and prisoners, and those it seems the world tends to just put down and want to "throw away." Going upon the errand of folks like this and casting our good fruit and bread to them is often denied, but it has good effects more often than most engaged in that pursuit realize.

It's often a delayed reaction, and the ones dealing with them may never see the fruit borne of their efforts, but it all matters, even when it's denied. Folks who work in our prisons have my deepest respect, and are always in my prayers. Thanks for what you folks do. It matters, even if you don't always see the results you'd like.

[vintagesportsman]

My wife and I are 1st gen Christian. We have four children, three oldest are married with 6 grandchildren among them, Youngest is in our prayers as he has walked away from the Lord Jesus. We are blessed by Almighty God and have been given much grace as we have raised our children in Christ. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and we will persevere, even in this society that has turned its back on God and His blueprint for the family.

[Blackwater]

Keep the faith, Vintage. Not all return, but most do, eventually. And it always matters when we keep our faith when someone we love is trying to lose or throw away theirs. But seeds, once planted, are always in that soil, and may eventually sprout. I'll pray for you and your errant son. Some never come to light until they've lost everything, and have only the most basics to look forward to and sustain them. Some fall by the wayside, and I'll be praying our son isn't among these. Just keep the faith, and remember, even in the darkest times, God is always with you both, and He will NEVER withdraw his hand from your son while he yet breathes. It's just up to him to take it.

God be with you both.