Sin-Broken Families

In this time of civil unrest and upheaval, much could be said.  There is the Winters Impeachment to analyze, the Springs Virus to process, and the Summers riots to understand. But I want to take a step back today and look at where most of us were forced to spend our Spring months: home. The home wasn’t just the focal point of our lives this season, it’s the foundation of every healthy society.  Healthy homes = Healthy countries. So think about those extra hours, and days, with your children, or spouse, or pet. They were difficult, not just because it was sudden, but because people are difficult. They are broken- only finding peace in the forgiveness God offers. The following was written mostly for children still living at home, though much applies to the parents too.  With a biblical mindset, maybe, just maybe, families can function more as a structured team, instead of rivals.

 

The Sin Broken Family, Crisis to Thriving!

  Proof

(A caveat on these “proofs” – They all seem to be about single parents families, because they are.  I’m not trying to single out this situation, except that they are obvious examples of how sinful/selfish choices can affect family life.  And “The newest census that the majority of America’s 73.7 million children under age 18 live in families with two parents (69 percent), according to new statistics released from the U.S. Census Bureau.”)

Crime State-by-state analysis by Heritage scholars indicates that a 10 percent increase in the percentage of children living in single-parent homes leads typically to a 17 percent increase in juvenile crime.[1]

Poverty Children living in female-headed families with no spouse present have a poverty rate of 45.8 percent, over four times the rate of children in married-couple families (9.5 percent.[2]

Immorality Family intactness has the greatest attenuating influence of all explanatory variables investigated on teenage out-of-wedlock births, including in the case where income is controlled for.[3]

 

        How do we prevent from becoming part of these tragic situations?

 

Gods Answer

  – Fathers/Parents are to instruct their children about the LORD

Joshua 4:5-7 Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, ⁶ that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ ⁷ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.^[4]

  – Children are to respond to their parents instruction submissively

Ephesians 6:1- “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), ³ “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” ⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. ^[5]”

 

 Not just Gods ANSWER, But Gods Way Too

 – The Correct Power Source

That is, all the words in 5:22–6:9 presuppose a household of believers who are continually being filled with the Spirit of God.^[6]

  – The Correct Mindset (Obedience>Teamwork)

1 Corinthians 12 – The Body Of The Church/The Body Of The Family?

18But in fact, God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.” Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.” 22On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,[7]

In Paul’s mind there is the closest kind of link between Christian worship and the Christian household^[8]

Show consistent character throughout all aspects of your life.  Be who you are at work who you are church.  Be who you are at church who you are at home.  Gods is the same (and with us!) all the time – you should be too!

 

 

[1] https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/report/the-real-root-causes-violent-crime-the-breakdown-marriage-family-and#:~:text=State%2Dby%2Dstate%20analysis%20by,of%20families%20abandoned%20by%20fathers.

[2] Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, “Information on Poverty and Income Statistics: A Summary of 2014 Current Population Survey Data,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (September 2014).

[3] U.S. Social Policy Dependence on the Family

^[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Jos 4:5–7). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

^[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 6:1–4). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

^[6] Fee, G. D. (2017). The Cultural Context of Ephesians 5:18–6:9. Priscilla Papers, 31(4), 4.

[7] https://biblehub.com/bsb/1_corinthians/12.htm

^[8] Fee, G. D. (2017). The Cultural Context of Ephesians 5:18–6:9. Priscilla Papers, 31(4), 4.