Family is a blessing, an inheritance God gives us. It is God’s property, which we must care for and respect. In Genesis 1:27-28, God’s Word says: God created mankind in His own image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. And God blessed them and said: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living creature that moves on the earth.”
God created the family for the multiplication of humankind, because multiplication can only happen through a sexual relationship between a man and a woman, and that is how Family begins. This is also why God instituted marriage, so that everything happens in order and respect, and so children can be born within marriage, cared for, and raised in the ways of the Lord by their parents.
Today we live in difficult times, and that is no secret. That is why the question arises: If we don’t take care of our family, who will do it for us?
God’s Word says in Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” This is repeated in Ephesians 6:1-3: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may go well with you and that you may live long on the earth.”
All of this depends on the guidance children receive from their parents from a young age.
Parental care is so essential that without it, a child may stumble severely in life.
Parents become one through their sexual union, and from that unity children are born. This is something very beautiful — when a child is born, everyone rejoices over the blessing we have received. But the responsibility begins right there. God holds us responsible for His blessings, for every child is a blessing.
If we walk in God’s path, it will be a blessing to us. God’s Word says: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
Parents must provide for their children, especially the father. God’s Word says in 1 Timothy 5:8: “If anyone does not provide for his own, especially those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
We must also uphold family values and remember that family is not about money or possessions, but about the following:
Forgiveness in the family: In every home there can be disagreements that may even turn into conflict. But this should not cause us to live in the same house without speaking to one another.
We must forgive each other quickly, and we must not forget that God’s Word says that if we do not forgive, God will not forgive us either (Matthew 6:14-15).
Family unity is a great blessing from God (Psalm 133).
Let us raise our children to be respectful, responsible, honest, generous, and grateful.
Let love prevail at all times.
Written by Pastor Marcel Balootje.