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Family Life

The family is the foundation for society.  It's not rare to hear a laywer, therapist, or psychologist in court explain a suspects behavior in relation to their family background and structure.  Teachers often attempt to understand a child's behavior by understanding their family life.  There's little debate about it, that a family unit is very critical to an individual.   Many will also go a step further and argue, with valid evidence, the importance of the family in society.  The family and the general good of society are in some ways interdependent.  Fractured families tend to produce fractured people, with varying degrees of antisocial behaviors, whom only God can heal.   The problem with most US families today isn't simply the high divorce rate, but the dysfunctions occuring in the family.  No one undertsands their role or position.  A wise man once said,  "When the man of the house is out of place, God is replaced, the woman is misplaced, and the children are displaced."  Our future prosperity and health are anchored in the strength of our family relationships.  Once the relationship between parents and children disintegrates the very fabric of society begins to unravel.  The same is true for the relationship between husband and wife. Our family relationships are where we begin to learn love, patience, trust, respect, teamwork, forgiveness, diversity, open communication and other valuable traits. The truth is those from healthy families (not necessarily ideal, perfect, or "normal") exhibit better emotional and psychological well-being and are less likely to display behavioral problems such as school violence, juvenile delinquency and substance abuse.  


As a society we need to begin to consider how we can rebuild and strengthen the family.  How do we begin to communicate regularly with honesty and love?  How do we begin to discuss the taboo subjects of domestic violence, incest, molestation, and abuse?  Better yet, how do we prevent these sinful behaviors.  How do we create families that play, pray, and eat together?  I don't have any concrete answers, but I know it starts with God.  God, the creator of life, creator of the family unit.  We need to use His Word as the standard.  We need to ask God for wisdom and to show us what family is supposed to be.  








Deuteronomy 6:6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.