Unite Your Family (Special Double Devotion)
Friday's Devotion (3-21-08)
"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4 (KJV)
"Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so [let] the wives [be] to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; " Ephesians 5:24-25 (KJV)
There are those who use scripture to fuel an abusive relationship, whether it be with their children... Or with their spouses. A lot of parents use the "Honor thy mother and thy father..." against their children. However, they don’t follow this verse Ephesians 6:4. They provoke their children to anger and then turn around and use the line, "Honor thy mother and thy father..." Now, they’re half right. Children should honor their parents, BUT if parents don’t follow their part of it as written in Ephesians 6:4 then the relationship between parent and child is still unhealthy. It takes two or in the case of parents two parties for a relationship to work. The same with marriage, a lot of people use only half of the verses. There are verses on marriage that both husband AND wife must obey in order for the relationship to be blessed. If there wasn’t then all relationships would be one sided, some are because the scriptures are only obeyed half-way.
I think it’s important for a family to be in the Word of God together, to study it together and to encourage each other to obey it... Instead of abusing the scripture and only using it for your own gain. No matter what you think, the scripture can be abused by people who don’t use it in it’s entire context, or follow it in it’s entire context. A lot of husbands like to quote the Bible to prove their authority over their wives. I’m talking about abusive husbands that do this, but if they look one more verse down it also says, "... Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it..." Now why would an abusive husband leave this part out when quoting? Because he wants control, but he doesn’t want to have to live up to the responsibility of that control. If a marriage is to work then both sides have to live up to their end of the deal. If a wife obeys her husband and he doesn’t love her as Christ loved the church and died for it (Meaning he must be willing to die for his wife,) then that marriage will not work. And vice versa, if a husband loves his wife but his wife is disobedient then the marriage will not work! It takes two people. One person cannot save a marriage. Actually it takes three people: Jesus, you, and your spouse.
The reason we’re having this special "double devotion," on marriage and parenting is really because a lot of families are falling apart. If you really want your families to be united then the Word of God cannot be divided in order to suite your own needs. In order to have God’s blessing on EVERY aspect of our lives we must follow His Word in it’s entirety. We can’t say, "I like what it says here, but not what it says here... I think I’ll just use this part and not that part." That’s mishandling God’s Word and disrespecting Him. You can’t expect any blessings in your life if you disrespect God. Respect His Word, Respect His authority because it’s His authority that gives us any authority we may have. Unite your family in the Word of God and they’ll truly be united and blessed!
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins as we forgive all those who’ve sinned against us. Please help us to take your Word in it’s entirety and to obey it. Let us husbands and wives be spouses that perform our duties, and let us parents or children perform our duties. May our families unite in Christ and not be divided, because a house divided against itself cannot stand. In Jesus name. A-men!
P.S. If you have abused the scriptures then I would like to ask you to come out and confess. You can confess here if you’d like, but more importantly you should confess to those you affected most with it. Try to make things right before it’s too late. Think about what your life would really be like without your family. Some of you are facing the possibility of losing your families and you may not even know it. Make things right and unite your family. Remember, it’s better to be humble and admit your faults than it is to be alone with your pride.
God bless!