June 14, 2010
Model Home Shortage
Over the last few decades, people’s idea of family has changed pretty dramatically. As broken homes increase at exponential rates, our culture has normalized this trend, now recognizing it as the standard instead of the exception. In fact, in recent years the divorce rate in Christian homes has superseded non-Christian homes.
As the children of second, third and even fourth generation broken homes set about shaping their own families, the gaps they need to close grow painfully wider. Family dysfunction is on the rise as family values are eroding. Countless parents and children have emerged from painful environments battle-weary and completely lacking any context of what a healthy, balanced family dynamic looks like.
What hasn’t changed, though, is the longing that each of us has for deep connections with those we love. Who among us doesn’t desire unconditional love able to withstand the toughest storms of life?
Rich, genuine relationships that stand the test of time have the power to transform a mere house into a true home.
It all boils down to relationship. Our ability to build, maintain, grow and even heal our relationships. These skills must be taught and modeled through intentional choices and a Godly blueprint.
When parents express unconditional love, schedule time for their children, focus attention on them, look into their eyes, maintain ongoing communication, have fun together, and pray together; it’s like putting money in a relational bank. And that investment gains a lot of interest over time.
This month we begin House or Home? Eight Essentials for Building a Close-Knit Family. We’ll look to Ephesians 5:21 – 6:3 as the “model home” for Godly families. As we explore the scriptural foundation for family, we’ll discover a model for living together in ways that enrich your day-to-day life.
This series is more than a pragmatic guide about improving relationships. How we live in our families reflects God’s relationships with His people, and God has chosen the family as His metaphor. When our families live in a way that honors our relationship with God, we are an expression of His grace, love and forgiveness to our world. When our families fall into confusion and disarray, that foundational building block is undermined.
It’s time to go back to the blueprint – won’t you join me?
Keep Pressin’ Ahead,
Chip Ingram
carolyno@frontiernet.net on June 26th, 2010
I really appreciate all your teachings Pastor Ingram and am so grateful to be able to listen to many of them on the radio as I travel to and from my job. Your recent teaching on the role of women in the family was excellent. I have been a working mother for many years and have often talked to other working mothers. I have found that the large majority of women working would prefer to stay home and raise their children but instead go out to work. And a large majority do so only because their husbands insist that they do. I have found that wives would love to be homemakers and would be willing to live on a lower budget, but it is most of the time the husband that wants more and insists on the woman going out to work to bring in extra income. I have heard countless women say and cry that they would love to stay home and spend more time with their children but cannot due to their husband’s wishes. I am not sure that preachers often realize this when they try to convince the women to stay at home when it is actually the men that need to hear this message much more than the women. I am including many Christian men in this because I have seen this over and over again in churches and throughout my working years. Also in surveys that I have read it has been noted that 80% of the housework is done by the women so that not only are they working outside the home for the same amount of hours as their husbands, but then when they come home they have to do all the cooking and cleaning and childcare. It is really no wonder that our families are falling apart and that women are stressed to the point that they are. From what my coworkers say and from my own experiences, talking to men about this rarely does any good. Our mothers and grandmothers did all the housework but they were home all day. Now we are expected to do it all. This is how it is in America today and our families need to keep their focus on the Lord and ask for His blessings and help to survive.