Last summer, I was able to spend time with some cousins and my siblings. We reminisced about aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, and caught up on other cousins and their children. Earlier I had done the same with other cousins.
Families matter.
This summer we have carved out some very intentional time to be with our children and grandchildren. We will eat and play and celebrate and swim and (maybe) fish and talk and grow and re-create together.
Families matter.
We hear about mass shootings. We hear about violence in the streets. We hear about the deadly nature of guns and knives and other implements of death. We wring our hands. We contact our elected officials. We mourn collectively. It the midst of it all, we need to keep in mind and live out this truth:
Families matter.
It doesn’t take a social scientist’s longitudinal study on family breakdown and social ills to prove a connection between healthy families and a healthy society… and the opposite. Just check out the news.
Families matter.
Keep in mind it is no coincidence that we have seen so much decay in the American family (and families in other countries as well). An intentionality is at work. Read up on the Frankfort School and Critical Theory. Read up on Marxism and Communism and the place of family in those systems. Such schools of thought know that families matter to a society and what happens in it; hence their desire to reshape them.
Of course, Satan has a hand in reshaping family too. Read up on his work with our first parents.
All that is to say, tend your family this summer. Re-create together. Your family matters. It matters to you. It matters to others.
Bless your neighbors’ families as well. We have a stake in one another’s families. We are all under social pressures driven by assorted theories. We are all under the influence of sin and Satan. We need strong, healing, forgiving, nurturing families. Ours. Others. This is a work we need to do in and for community.
Families matter.
Let this all be in relationship with Jesus. He redeems. He renews. He re-creates.
Take time this summer for family. It’s worth it. It’s biblical. It’s fruitful. It will bring blessing to your home. It will bring blessing to your community.
Families matter.
Resource: Check out Take Back Your Family by Jefferson Bethke
“Families Matter” first appeared on July 8, 2022 on the blog “Toward Significance” by Rev. David Davis. Used with permission.
Photo © Tom Merton/iStock
Jeremy - May 16, 2023
Amen, brother! Not only our own families, but as those in ministry we need to seriously consider how we are to help the families in our midst value this amazing gift of family in a God-honoring way.