The Breakdown of the Family

At the core of every community are the families who live in it and create an environment that we call home.  The family has been the core of any community since the foundation of the world.  In Genesis 2:18, we read that God said, "It is not good for man to be alone."  So what did God do?  He created woman and they started a family.  The family was God's design from the very beginning.

Then, as we read in the early days of Israel's history, God established bedrock principles for the family.  Deuteronomy 6:4-7 says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."  Parents are to first of all love and honor God, and then to train their children to do the same.  The end of the book of Joshua, in chapter 24, Joshua is transitioning out of leadership and he gives the people of Israel one final command, "Choose you this day whom you will serve."  Then he makes a remarkable statement, which should be the mission of every family, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Furthermore, as we look at the teaching of Jesus in the gospels, He makes it very clear that man and woman were designed to enter a marriage covenant for the purpose of starting a family.  Mark 10:6-9 says, “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’  ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  From this passage we learn several truths:  1)  God established marriage.  2) Marriage is between one man and one woman.  3) Marriage is the instrument for starting a new family. 

In addition, as we read in Ephesians, we gain further insight into how a family should function with the man as the leader or head of the family.  Ephesians 5:22-24 says, "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything." There are too many homes where the head is missing.

It's sad to look around my neighborhood and see a breakdown of the family.  I see single parent homes, live in boyfriends/girlfriends, children being born out of wed-lock, children being abused, children who are living a rebellious life with no parental authority demanding respect, and this just barely scratches the surface.  Seeing this breakdown, literally breaks my heart.

One of the main factors for this breakdown is because our government has gotten away from Biblical principles.  It all begins as a little leaven creeps into the bread.  As I consider our culture and the breakdown of the family, there are four factors that are contributing to this breakdown.  These four areas in no particular order are: divorce, pornography, abortion, and gay marriage.  Each of these issues lead to the breakdown of families and the breakdown of homes.  Our government has enabled much of these problems.  They have taken what is sacred and holy and made it common.  It has caused the standards of purity and righteousness to be lowered.  In the words of Isaiah, "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have each turned our own way."

It's obvious we are living in what the Bible refers to as the last days.  As a follower of Christ, it's easy to get discouraged as we see this decay happening in our culture and certainly as it pertains to the breakdown of the family.  However, it is suppose to happen.  May our discouragement be reversed as we turn our attention to the return of Christ.  The world will get worse and our children and grandchildren will deal with it much worse than us.  However, the return of Christ is our hope!  Until then, may our commitment to Christ grow strong.

I have come to appreciate the words from a little known book in the Bible, Jude 1:17-13, "But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.  But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh."

That last verse is becoming one of my favorites. In my words, "Be merciful to the haters. Save others from the fire of hell." As followers of Jesus Christ, may our lights continue to shine. The only solution to this breakdown of the family is Jesus Christ. May our families grow closer to Jesus and to each other. May we reach out to those families who are in need. May we say, as Joshua did long ago, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Jesus is the answer for the world today. Jesus will keep our families from breakdown.