Family is God’s idea for how humans should flourish on Earth. God established the first family in Adam and Eve. He made His covenant with the family of Abraham. It’s through families that we find our identity and home.
Life with God means life as a part of His family. This Sunday, Kathy Spaulding walked us through John 1: “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (vs. 12-17). The kingdom of heaven is a family matter. It’s adoption. It’s belonging.
The Lord meets the needs of His people through families. In a family there is not only loving affection, but provision, protection, and wisdom. Benefits and responsibilities. Things we receive. Things we give.
“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).
Believing in Christ comes with the responsibility of mothers and fathers to provide for their households. When they sacrifice to meet the needs of their household, parents give their children a picture of the Lord, who provides well for His kids.
When we safeguard our kids, we’re showing the love of our heavenly Father who takes the safety of His children very seriously. Jesus shows the “papa bear” heart of the Father when He says things like: “Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin, it would be better for a millstone to be thrown around their neck and cast into the sea” (Matthew 18:6). God cares quite a bit for the little ones.
That same heart of fierce protection belongs to parents who protect their children for the sake of the Lord. The opposite attitude is the voice of Cain, who says, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer is yes. Families have a responsibility to protect one another.
And more than that, families have the responsibility, as Paul puts it in Ephesians 6:4, to “bring up children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” The wisdom of the Lord is meant to be passed from father to son, from mother to daughter. The entire book of Proverbs is a parent’s gift of Godly instruction. “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching” (Proverbs 1:8).
God loves families. If for whatever reason you’re without an earthly family today, you can find family among the household of faith. Psalms 68 says our God “places the lonely in families.” He’s a Father to the fatherless and the protector of widows. You can be a giver and a receiver of provision, protection, and wisdom in the family of God today.