LIGHT FOR FULFILLED FAMILIES

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them” – Colossians 3: 18-19

As He does for Harmonious Homes, the Lord gives LIGHT for FULFILLED FAMILIES: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (Col.3 18-21). God is the Father of Families (1Cor.8:6a). He is the Father: “from whom the WHOLE FAMILY in heaven and earth is named” (Eph.3:14b; 4:6). According to His eternal Pattern, He ordained the human family as an institution for His Glory, that reveals His Nature and is designed for the care and nurture of His children.

God created humans to live as families. Over the ages however, the family has been confronted with many satanic attacks and pressures from within and without, including: conflicting identities, roles, and responsibilities of family members; parenting problems, sibling rivalries, extended relations, and the meeting of physical and other needs. Thankfully, God has a design for Family Life and the Maximized Christian Family is one that aligns with biblical principles; one in which each member understands and fulfils his or her God-given role. Family was not initiated by man; it was designed and instituted by God Himself for the benefit of humanity and our stewardship over the rest of His creation.

The basic family unit comprises a man, woman and their biological or adopted children. Extended families can include relatives by blood or marriage, like grandparents, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, and uncles. The husband and wife hold the family together, based on a lifetime commitment ordained by God. Today’s meditation text provides vital basis for the Christian Family, as does Ephesians 5: 21-33. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church, and she, respect her husband, be his helper, and willingly submit to his leadership in the family; both “submitting to one another in the fear of God” (Eph.5:21). Parents must bring up their children in “the training and admonition of the Lord,” while they obey and honour them (Eph.6:1-4). The godly wife helps, supports and cares for her family (Gen.2:18-20; Proverbs 31). 

Besides the nuclear family unit, “God sets the solitary in families...” (Psa.68:6a). He settles in families, individuals who by circumstances of birth or background were not naturally privileged to enjoy the blessing of family: “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation” (Psa.68:5). Men and women are created in God’s Image, and are equally valuable in His eyes; but it is abiding in our divinely-ordained roles that guarantees fulfilment. Our families must have temporal and eternal impact; hence the need to establish in our homes an atmosphere that encourages learning and living by God’s Word – the Source of Light for Fulfilled Families.