Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.
So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground”.
Some of the statistics on marriage and family life in the UK are quite disturbing. In 2014, there were 247,372 heterosexual marriages, and 4,850 marriages between same sex couples. But in that same year, there were 111,169 divorces, and half the time, divorcing couples have at least one child under the age of 18. So in the same year, there were 94,864 children aged under 16 whose parents had divorced in the previous year.
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Regardless of the statistics above, the family unit is God’s channel to raise up Godly children, and He has given us the mandate to build successful families. Since the word ‘success’ is a function of purpose, a successful family is thus one that fulfils divine purpose. In our Scripture reading, the word ‘Be…’ denotes an assignment, a mandate, and an imperative. It is thus important to understand the purpose and mandate for which marriage was designed.
It is actually selfish to think of marriage as a cure for loneliness; and such self-centredness is a major reason for the breakdown of marriages. Genesis 2:18 gives us the main reason for marriage: And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him”. Again, the word ‘helper’ in this passage implies that there is an assignment to fulfil.
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In verse 28 of our Scripture reading, God blessed man and empowered them to be fruitful, to multiply, fill the earth and have dominion. From this we see that marriage is the foundational unit through which man establishes God’s dominion on the earth!
In order to build a God-centred family, husbands and wives each have responsibilities. Ephesians 5: 22- 29 spells out God’s “game plan” for building successful families. Accordingly, the husband is the head of the wife. His headship is to be characterised by sacrificial selflessness, leadership, direction, love, care and responsibility, as God’s will unfolds for their lives; contrary to what some think, Bible-based headship is not domineering and it certainly does not act superior. On the other hand, wives are called to submit to their husbands in the same way that the Church would submit to Christ; such submission is an acknowledgement of the husband’s headship and leadership. When husbands love their wives selflessly, and wives submit to their husbands in all the will of God for their families, the unit models Christ to the world.
Finally beloved, to have and experience an out-standing robust family that will speaks for its generation with a landmark, sticks to God after making Him your Family NO1 by drawing your sustainability from Him ALWAYS, EVERY TIME.