In the beginning God crowned man and woman as jewels to His creation. In the beginning God fellowshipped with man and woman "in the cool of the evening". Foremost in God's heart was a bonding relationship between Himself and the breath of Life He'd made in His own image. Such is what we need to consider when we begin to prioritize our daily lives. Firstly, a relationship with our Creator. If we fix our eyes upon Him, all other things will fall perfectly in line with His plan and purpose. Aside from our relationship with God, in the beginning God made man for woman and gave them one unto the other. Indeed God took the initiative and officiated the first marriage of the world in the Garden of Eden. And it was in that marriage God wanted to walk and be intimately connected. He instructed Adam and Eve to "multiply". So God sanctioned the first physical relationship between a man in woman in marriage. And from that relationship became the third priority in life--family.
We've talked about the marriage relationship and the places of vulnerbility one has with it in the previous posts. These same warnings can carry over into the family relationship and the ministry relationship. It is clear from the beginning that God wanted to be an intricate and primary part of every relationship we have. Scriptures first battle of life was between woman and the serpent. So we know from Scripture that any difficulty we may encounter in life is a direct descendent from the disregard of God's commands and falling for the twisted truth of Satan. We know that we are vulnerable...because the most perfect of God's creation was vulnerable. So it we must consider this in the relationship between us and protecting our children. We need to set the best examples. We need to make time to fellowship with them as God fellowshipped with Adam and Eve. The "cool of the evening" might be an excellent time to consider focusing on this. Man should cease from his labor and relax with his family. Woman should cease her labor and relax with her family. Work can wait till the next day.
Chadwick Ivester offers these tidbits in keeping all things prioritized as according to Matthew 6:33...For himself he spends time, "every morning, at the Lord's feet to receive" his "daily bread from Him." Each evening after supper, he and his family "engage in Family Worship" together. He takes off every Friday to spend time with his family (Friday & Saturday are reserved for his family). He and his wife reserve Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings (after the children's curfew) to spend quality time together. He and his wife (if at all possible) pray together each night before they retire for the evening. Chad challenges:
"What profit is it to have a successful ministry and lose your marriage and family?" based on Matthew 16:26.
It is clear to Chad and to others that familly needs to be a priority. And like I wrote in my first post on Vulnerability, what would your children glean from the fact that you make time for your church's children--to minister, but not time for them? You'd take time to answer a child's question, what about theirs? So, what about you? What things do you find helpful in maintaining a family focus? We'd like to know. Seriously, I know you're out there reading this. The stats reveal it. So give us some ideas that will help us all to build better family focus. selahV
FOR MY PREVIOUS POSTS ON VULNERABILITY:
PART ONE...CAN THE DEVIL GET TO YOU?
