God's Genius Design for the Family

I rapid tweeted a paragraph on family yesterday and since the ideas are still resting on my mind, I thought I'd take a blog to elaborate. Here's what I wrote:

"I'm marveling this AM over God's genius in constructing the family. It provides all the foundational ingredients for life & relationships. Father & Mother, together, declare the myriad attributes of God. The two, masculine & feminine, as one, declare the knowledge of God. The foundations of love, care, comfort, instruction, correction, discipline, mercy, camaraderie, conflict & healing all reside in family. No wonder divorce is such a violent rending...it fractures the foundations and distorts the knowledge of God."

The Two, Masculine and Feminine, As One, Declare the Knowledge of God

God designed the human frame in a most remarkable way. He dispensed between the genders distinct attributes and tendencies. In men we tend to see qualities like instruction, encouragement, discipline, and protection. In women we tend to see care, compassion, mercy, and comfort. It's not that these tendencies don't reside in the other gender, I'm simply speaking in generalities.

He sets in us tendencies unique to our gender that compliment the other. When a couple is united in marriage a composite is formed that speaks of the totality of God's make up. Both genders together form a unique bond that depicts the nature and knowledge of God. He is the God of justice as well as the Father of mercies. This composition of a husband and wife, offering the unique treasure of who they are to a marriage, speaks powerfully of the person of God.

Have you ever considered how God confined the procreative act in one institution, under one covenant - marriage? Why does He define marriage as the only appropriate relationship to share sexual intimacy? Because the procreative authority invested in sexual union speaks directly of Who He is as the Creator. When a man and woman come together in marital intimacy resulting in the birth of a child it is an explicit picture of our Creative God. Children raised in a family with father and mother together, receive an indelible imprint upon their soul of the truth of the Creator who has dreamed of and fashioned each of us.

The departure from marriage, therefore, is an offense that mars and distorts the very nature and knowledge of God. It is tragic that marriages are easily disposed of at the whim of personal preference. Jesus was clear that this was never God's intention.

The Foundations of Life Reside in Family

The family unit is foundational to God's design for society in that it is supposed to provide the safest context to learn and experience love. From the basis of free acceptance in love, we experience an array of interactions that prepare us for life. When we learn love in the secure context of family, we have an easier time freely offering love to others.

When the family is fractured oftentimes the interactions are damaging. The emotional and mental brokenness most people carry through life is, unfortunately, a direct result of brokenness they've incurred in family. This can be incredibly painful and debilitating. I'm so thankful that God has answers for us.

If you are married I want to encourage you to value your marriage with the same value that God has placed upon it. You and your spouse are a direct depiction of God to your children. At all costs, I encourage you to provide a safe context for your kids to learn to love. Make enjoyment of them your #1 priority.

Perhaps, like me, you come from a family that suffered the tragedy of divorce. I want to encourage you: you DO NOT have to repeat the cycle that forged brokenness in your history. As tragic and scarring as divorce is, there is healing and freedom in Jesus. He will set you free from hurt and unforgiveness if you will decide not to harbor it. Where we have been broken is so often the place that God wants to make us strong so that we can offer healing to others who have been broken like us.

I'm praying for families today, believing God to release the Spirit of Elijah, and turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers.