Fight for Your Family - It's God's Will

1 million divorces! You heard me. There are about 1 million divorces in the United States every year! I read this information a few days ago and was blindsided. Yes, I know that the divorce rate in the United States is very high, but I have never thought about it in terms of the actual number of couples that fall apart each year. When I saw the number I immediately felt a shot of pain go straight to my heart and I was moved to encourage you (and myself) to fight for your family.

Let us look at the numbers more closely: 1 million divorces mean one million families wrecked; one million or more children thrown to the whirlwinds of a broken family; one million women who have been left to struggle on their own; and one million men who are left feeling like failures and in some cases jerks.

This is unsustainable!

The high divorce rate means a breakdown of community, a heightened amount of feelings of inadequacy and failure and an erosion of wholesome sanctuaries in society. It also means thousands of children who are forced to deal with brokenness, disappointment, disorder and a sense of helplessness and betrayal. And so the call goes out: fight for your family.

Satan is smart. His ultimate aim is to destroy the church and our faith in God to keep us together and give us victory over the power of sin. Satan knows that if he breaks a family apart, chances are that one or both parents will move away from the church and the child or children will be tossed to and fro. When the church numbers dwindle, fewer people contribute to the preaching of the gospel and the reaching of those in need. If the bleeding continues, ministers are forced to make cuts and in many cases church, as an organization, fails. However, we know that the church itself - the people - can never fail, because "Greater is He in us than the devil who is in the world."

Additionally, the devil is aiming to reap chaos and havoc in our society. Broken families mean broken and disappointed people; people feeling helpless and depressed; people harboring bitterness and anger (unless God is allowed to intervene). The more bitter, disappointed or depressed people feel, the less likely they will be to contribute to the building up of society. Thank God for relatives, friends, churches and organizations that rescue many people from going off the "cliff of give it all up." But we must remain cognizant of the fact that the devil will stop at nothing to destroy our families; so we must be prepared to fight for our families.

How will we fight?

Fighting may mean turning off a favorite TV program to spend time with your spouse. Fighting may mean not having the last word in an argument. Fighting may mean just hushing up. Fighting may mean throwing off your perception of manhood and helping with the children. Fighting may mean learning to show appreciation for what he does, even though he should be doing it anyway. Fighting may mean taking time out to play with the children. Fighting may mean saying "Thank you" for dinner. Fighting may mean running into the store to get a rose or few. Fighting may mean not using sex as a weapon. Fighting may mean committing your lives completely to God and acknowledging that without His help this is difficult. Fighting may mean reading the Bible and praying together. Fighting may mean not mentioning the "d" word. Fighting may mean resolving that come hell or high-water, you will not give in.

I call upon every married couple to get up every day ready to fight. Let us not fight just for our children, but for US. When the children are gone, we will be left. If we have not fought for us before the children leave, there will be nothing to hold onto when the children are gone.

May God strengthen and enable you and me to fight for our families.