Word of the week - Family
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” Joshua 24:15
Definition of a family - The basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children: a group of individuals living together under one roof usually under one head: a group of person of common ancestry or blood relationship: a group of people united by certain convictions or common affiliation:
Family is a gift - “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court” Psalm 127:3-5 God is so good that He blessed us with the gift of family. Starting with sacrament of marriage, the union of one man and one woman to become one in Christ. “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh”. Genesis 2:24 This is the one relationship on earth that God compares to His relationship with His bride the church (us). What a beautiful picture and opportunity we have to relate with Christ and become more Christ like through the sanctifying experience of the marriage relationship. God did not stop with the gift ofmarriage, He then blessed us with the mandate to procreate and made it an intimate and delightful part of connecting in marriage😊. God blessed us with the ability to have children to enjoy and raise up in Christ who will pass down our heritage and legacy to the next generations. “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” Genesis 1:28’
Responsibility of leading our family well - As followers of Christ, our children are a huge blessing from God but they are also our greatest responsibility as stewards of our blessings. Like all things in life, God desires for us to enjoy and delight in our blessings but He gives us these blessings for His purpose to be a blessing and build His kingdom. This is most evident in our role as parents and grandparents. First and foremost, it is our utmost privilege and responsibility to ensure that our offspring know God and are trained up in the ways of our faith. As parents and grandparents, we must make it the first priority to share our faith and testimony with our children and lead them in the way of God both in word and deed. Generally these things are more caught than taught, so the true test of our faith is how we live. Have we ordered our lives according to God’s values and are we living this way? Are we abiding in Christ daily and seeing the fruit of God’s spirit being multiplied and passed down to our children and grandchildren? “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another-and all the more as you see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25
Opportunity and Blessing - “Now therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9. What an amazing blessing and opportunity we have to impact generations through the short life we have on this earth. God makes it very simple, if we make His values our family’s values, we will experience generational blessing. But if we don’t make God’s values our priorities then the curse and river of mud from our forefathers will continue to be passed down to future generations. God promises us that that our offspring will have an enduring blessing if we pass down a godly Heritage. This starts with really assessing our values. Are our values and the way we live our lives based on the values of the world (money, social status, pursuing self) or God’s values (Christ, family, others). This is the great commandment, loving God first and loving others second as we love ourselves. I am convinced that if we make God the priority “First Fruits” we will receive His blessing and our children and their offspring will be blessed. With divine order comes divine blessing. God does not call us to perfection but He does call us to a life that makes Himself the top priority in all things starting with how we live our lives day to day. Living the surrendered life making Christ our Lord.
Building our Family’s on the rock of Christ – “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” Matthew 7:24-27 Are we building the foundation of our house and family on the rock of Christ so we can survive and even thrive through the storms of life. Blood family relationship is thick but has no comparison to the power of God’s spirit alive and well within our hearts and families. The best family is a family that is one in spirit in Christ. The greatest inheritance we can leave our children is that of a godly Heritage submitted to the Lordship ofChrist. We recently completed a weekend together with our kids and grandkids at our farm down in Marengo county where we spent time talking about our family Heritage and the opportunity we have to pass down blessings to the next generations. I was so encouraged by this time together as I experienced how God is working in our family through our kids and how God’s values have become our values and are being transferred to our kids and grandkids. This is the biggest blessing and opportunity in life.
If you want to learn more about building your family on the rock of Christ for generational blessing, I highly recommend this message from Pastor Jimmy Evans on Building a Lasting Family https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/building-a-lasting-family . This is one of themost encouraging messages I have ever heard on family and the opportunity we have for influencing our families toward generational blessings.
I shared this Word of the Week last year but I felt it appropriate to follow up from the 100x Soil message from last week. Family is our biggest opportunity to be 100x soil.
Have a great week.
-Duane