The Family Plan

Read I Timothy 5:1-25

“Those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in
their own household, have denied the true faith. Such
people are worse than unbelievers.”
(I Timothy 5:8)

Thoughts… As family structures are weakened in a society, greater and greater pressure is put on the government, the school system, various social institutions, and even the church to meet the needs of people that God intended families to meet. Just within the last decade or two in American society, we have witnessed a growing and alarming dependency on institutions to meet our needs. What our parents and grandparents understood to be their personal responsibility, we now expect someone or something else to provide.

Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution does it say that government must provide universal health or retirement benefits or a pain-free life. Our founding fathers did not guarantee our happiness, only the right for us to pursue it.

Likewise, school systems work best in educating their students when parents are heavily and intricately involved with their children in the learning process. When parents take the lead in their child’s education, the school can come alongside the parent’s efforts in a supportive role and be far more effective in producing young people who are ready to enter into society as well prepared and responsible citizens.

Furthermore, the Bible doesn’t say that the institutional church is obligated to take care of every financial need its members may have. It was very specific about who should be helped, and who should not. The list of qualifying candidates was very slim, as you can read in I Timothy 5. Paul was very clear that people ought to be reluctant in becoming a burden to the church by requiring resources that other, more legitimately needy, should get.

The fact of the matter is, the government, the school and the church cannot meet every single need and every single want of its citizenry. Nor should it. But the family can—and should. God intended for families—both the nuclear family and the extended family—to be the place where the physical, emotional, educational and financial needs of the individual were addressed.

The breakdown of the family in today’s world explains why God’s family plan isn’t working very well—but it doesn’t excuse it. And it certainly doesn’t remove the responsibility we as individuals have to provide for our families.

So while social security threatens to implode, national health care is being hotly debated, welfare programs are being resurrected and socialism is making a comeback, the church needs to step in and lead the way in showing the world how God’s family plan is the real answer to these societal challenges.

God wants you to be sensitive and responsive to the needs of your family. Are you? If you are not, begin to reestablish your family ties so that when the time comes, you step in a help meet their needs.

Prayer… Dear God, I pray that you will help me to lead my family in such a way that we will demonstrate to a watching world who your family plan is the answer to what ills our society.

One More Thing… “The family fireside is the best of schools.” — Arnold Glasow