Today, we celebrate family; the most important union in the world. We celebrate the one flesh union of a husband, wife and children — the unit that God created to bless the entire universe.
None of us would exist were it not for the one-flesh union of husband and wife to bless the world with children. The family is ordained of God for the primary purpose of replenishing the earth thus establishing society. Ever since God spoke and said, “It is not good for man to be alone” and he made wo-man, there has been a family.
All of us come from one. There had to be a mother and father. Without this one flesh union, there would be no cousins, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, or nieces and nephews. We ought to thank God for our family and not take them for granted for we only get one family for one lifetime and when they’re gone, they’re gone!
Love them while you have them. Don’t walk around mad with your family, holding on to stuff. It’s not worth it. Let stuff go! Just let it go!
There is no other unit that impacts the world like the family — from this unit congressmen are made, surgeons, lawyers, renowned leaders, athletes, players from professional sports like football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf and other sports all come from the family.
All of us who are connected to one know that there is something about family that though sometimes they get on your last nerve, we would not want to live in this world alone without family. We will appreciate family when we come to realize that God put us together for a reason; to build up each other, encourage each other and bring out the best in each other. Blood is thicker than water. I know that I would not be what I am without my family. God used them to propel me to where I am. God in His infinite wisdom ordained the family.
But the family is in trouble. The family that God made is on the verge of losing its identity and Satan is wreaking havoc on the family. Jesus prophesied this nearly two thousand years ago when he said the time would come when the mother would be against the daughter and father against son, as read in Luke 12:53. That’s happening now; he must have also seen that today parents are trying to be their children’s friends instead of being their parents! Children can make friends with their peers. They need parents!
And a parent in the biblical sense is somebody who leads their children in the way God wants them to be led. The devil is trying to redefine the family and make it other than what God ordained. We need to pray, really pray that God will save the family! Destroy the family and you destroy the community. Without an identity, there is no society and whatever way the world is today good or bad, it traces right back to the family.
There’s a force that is warring against us and the family. The Bible tells us in 1 John 2:15-16 to “not love the world, neither the things of the world; for all that is in the world is the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life.”
Satan uses the love of these things to lure us away from God and the family. If you don’t believe me the next time you are out in a restaurant and you see family, notice how sometimes every member of the family is on the cell phone scrolling up and down with no communication among themselves. My wife and I were out eating one time and we noticed a couple sitting at a table across from us. Both of them were not communicating at all. They were just there sitting quietly scrolling up and down on the phone.
Our question was, “Why did they come out to dinner?” The purpose of dining out is to engage, talk, laugh and dialogue. When they brought their food to them, they ate with one hand, while scrolling with the other hand!
The one instrument that the devil knows that he can use to distract our young people, and some older people too is the cell phone. They are sitting up in the classroom where they are supposed to be learning, in the church where they are supposed to be listening. They are on the phone, distracted by social media. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other outlets are stealing our family right before our eyes. Instead of training up children in the way they should go like the Bible says (Proverbs 22:6), in a lot of families social media is training up the children!
When fathers don’t talk to their children at home and give them instruction at home, and mothers don’t teach their children at home, the devil gets a foothold in the family, and you have chaos in the home. Lord, save the family!
Save the family from this evil world system. Somebody help me to pray that God will break the power that social media has over our family. Save the family from this evil world system. This evil world system is anti-God and anti-Christ. Enjoy the world, but don’t love the things of the world. Somebody help me to pray that God will break the power that social media has over our family. Pray that the Lord will save the family.
The Rev. George Ellis is the pastor of Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church and can be reached at georgeellis1956@yahoo.com.
