Today, we face the most devastating epidemic ever to sweep our planet. It costs us more each year in dollars and lives than any plague in the history of mankind. Tragically, unlike AIDS, the cure is simple and effective and can be found in the pages of the Bible, yet the plague continues to grow day by day, year after year, generation upon generation.
If your car is broken, you take it to a mechanic who gets out the Manufacturer’s Repair & Maintenance Manual, reads how to fix what’s wrong and then does it. What would happen if you took your car to a mechanic and he pulled out a cookbook? “I’m sorry,” he’d say, “I can’t seem to find your problem, that will be $100.” Would you take your car back to him the next time it broke down? And yet, we practice this very same exercise in futility so often in our daily lives. “ Oh no, you say?” We do it every time we allow the world to offer solutions to our daily problems, particularly in the areas of human relationships and the family. All we need to do when we are experiencing a breakdown (problem in our life) is to get out the Manufacturer’s Repair & Maintenance Manual (The Bible), and do what it says. If God created us, surely He knows what it takes to keep us up and running properly. Yet. it is so tragic that so few opt to take this easy cure. And so the epidemic of divorce, heartbreak, and rebellion continues to spread at a maddening pace.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
It is up to us as parents to rise up and say “Enough is enough!” The truth is we live in a duel world that is both spiritual and physical at the same time and while there are very real spiritual forces at work, we must be careful not to use them as a scapegoat. The best starting point is to give credit where credit is due, in reality, most of our problems are more likely based in our own selfishness and a lifetime of false filters that alter our world view, than in a spiritual attack. However, there is no mistaking that we are in the midst of a great battle for our homes and families. We must purpose in our hearts to put our families and our homes on the firm foundation of God’s Word. It is our only hope of survival.
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house: and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 24-27
These are not merely the words of a cute children’s song but a mandate from a living God who is all too aware of the results of building one’s house upon the sand. It is imperative that we as parents begin to live and not just speak our convictions in front of our kids. If we are unwilling, be assured that they are in danger of becoming another statistic.
We really do reap what we sow, so let’s decide to sow good seed. It may take more of our time and effort in the beginning. but in the long haul it will be an investment that will be well worth it.
scourtneylawson 