What’s the God-metric pressure in your home today?
What is the God-metric pressure, anyway? Well… you’ve heard of barometric pressure, right? When the barometric pressure is very low, terrible storms result… epic blizzards in winter and intense hurricanes during the summer months. Similarly, if the God-metric pressure in your home is low, high levels of adversity, difficulty, and hardship will be experienced. A God-metric pressure that is high, when the home environment is intentionally focused on God’s model for the family, peace, love, compassion, and harmony are more the rule than the exception. But unlike barometric, which we have no control over, God-metric pressure is completely controllable… and best of all, it’s a choice that we can make. And in this season of Father’s Day, as men, we need to, as Chip Ingram in the House or Home, God’s Blueprint for Marriage states, we’re supposed to “step up and not step on” as we lead our families. And this leading is contingent on our relationship with Jesus Christ and where we choose to place Him in the context of our families. But the family needs more than just men… it requires both husband and wife to work together for a common good… the family and their children based on God’s perfect model.
How’s your family’s God-metric pressure today? Strong, vibrant, peaceful, with compassion and love being demonstrated toward each other? Or is the family atmosphere filled with anger, yelling, and harshness? Today, more than ever before, families are under attack, and unless we’re willing to proclaim Jesus as the rock and foundation the home is built on, there is no way we’ll be able to sustain the spiritual storm we’re being exposed to on a regular basis. The photo I’ve included in this posting is so incredibly descriptive of what it is that I’m writing about.
Like this lighthouse, which is being pummeled by a terrible storm, today’s family is under attack through overt online filth, overuse of social media which is quickly replacing necessary communication within and outside of the family, inappropriate programming on television, unprecedented violence against women and children as the intended targets, and the removal of any reference to God in schools and everyday life. But, look carefully at the lighthouse in the photo… regardless of the impact of the immense, powerful waves, it remains steady… rooted in the firm foundation of the rock it is built on. An amazing analogy that we should be modeling our own lives and the lives of our families after, as it’s not a matter of if we’ll get hit by adversity, but when… and when we do, will we crumble under the intense pressure of life’s storm? The answer lies in who or what we choose to build our homes on.
In today’s reading, I focused my work on Psalm 127, particularly Psalm 127:1 stating that “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” God holds the family unit in the highest regard and we, as parents, have an obligation to our children to make the family a priority… to defend the family from any and all adversity founded on the foundation of Jesus Christ. The divorce rate amongst original marriages has risen to the 50% mark, and even higher when dealing with remarried couples. As a Christian seeking answers to these frightening statistics, I’ve concluded that families have 3 definite adversaries… the world, our own flesh nature, and the enemy, Satan, himself. God speaks to us in Ephesians 6:12 stating “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
But Satan’s attack on the family should be no surprise to us, right? We saw him at work in the Garden of Eden… and in full view of Eve’s assigned protector… her partner Adam. Genesis 3:6 speaks that Eve “also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” So, we’re up against an amazingly cunning and veil adversary, who works both in the dark and out in the light, to break apart the family unit. In 2 Corinthians 11:14, we’re told “and no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” He is a liar and a deceiver, who does not abide in truth. I’m sure if you take some time to reflect, you’ll come up with at least a dozen things that keep the family from remaining as close and as strong as they once were.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to reclaim our families! We can do this by working together and being proactive in obedience to God’s Word… by doing, living, and acting out God’s plan for our lives and in the lives of our families. And just as a master builder would never consider building a home, or a lighthouse, on a weak or fragile foundation, we, as humans, must confess our dependence on God as the one true foundation if we’re to stand a chance against this relentless enemy that does not rest. We must persevere… the sanctity of the family unit is at stake! And while we may not experience the fruit our efforts in the near term, God will honor the planting of ‘seeds’ and the effort to maintain the integrity of the family.
Father… so many of Your children are screaming that they are tired of trying to run their homes their way. Today, we commit to being the men and women You have called us to be, to use You and Your Word as the foundation to build our homes on. We declare today that we want to raise our families according to Your plan, not ours. And just as You were tempted by Satan and all his empty promises, we shout out “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only!”” (Matthew 4:10).
Amen!
gstefanelli (Greg Stefanelli)
Sixty-six books in a year 