What is a woman? According to Merriam-Webster a woman is “an adult female person.” Then Webster defines female as one “having a gender identity that is opposite of a male.” How about a man? Dictionary.com says a man is “an adult male human being,” while giving male a complicated definition saying it is “having or relating to a gender identity that corresponds to a complex, variable set of social and cultural roles, traits, and behaviors assigned to people of the sex that typically produces sperm cells.” (Image by s05prodpresidente from Pixabay)
What about marriage? The Cambridge Dictionary writes, that it is “a legally accepted relationship between two people in which they live together.” The 1828 edition of the Webster dictionary lays it out differently saying marriage is, “The act of uniting a man and woman for life.” And finally, what is the definition of family? The Collins dictionary describes it as, “A group of people who are related to each other, especially parents and their children.” While Britannica dictionary gives a more detailed understanding saying family is, “two married adults, usually a man and a woman…along with their offspring…more specifically known as a nuclear family.”
Experts have described the family as the foundation of society, so when the family begins to be redefined, it can mean its downfall. Do you see what is happening in America? Increasing crime, poverty, mental health issues and overall cultural instability and chaos. These are all signs of trouble with the American family. Do you want to see this trend continue in your own life or family? Turn off the cultural noise. Swim upstream and consider living a different way.
The Bible is an accurate history book of mankind. It tells us how man and woman were created by God. After He created man, God said, “’It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’ So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:18,20-25)
The God of heaven and earth created man and woman. They knew Him, and He knew them. He brought them together as husband and wife to form a family, and called them to fill the earth with their children. But then something happened. Using the freedom God granted them, they eventually rejected Him. And when they did the family that God built, began to fall apart. As they persisted in following their own ways--men, women, marriages and families all began to feel the consequences of their choices. This is where millions of families are at today.
But the good news, is it does not have to be this way anymore. God sent His only Son to die and rise again for you and your family. He came to point out that sin in our society, and in your own heart, is the cause of this upheaval we are living through. But there is a way to be forgiven and restored. When you turn from your sin and to Jesus by faith, with all your being, you will be transformed by His miraculous power. This will be the start of you being a new man or woman, a new husband or wife, a new dad or mom, a new son or daughter. It will be the start of a journey toward a new family.
A prayer for you – Lord God, bring dads and moms, and sons and daughters, to see how they have rejected you, and how it has impacted their family. Bring them this moment, to call upon you in faith, that they might be made new. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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