¶ O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Roman 11:33-12:2The Family is the central unit of God’s ordained plan for humanity. This does not mean that those who are not married or will not marry are any less important.But we can see that after God created man, He gave him a helpmeet, a more than suitable helper. And in the context of the first family unit, male and female, Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve, God had a purpose for this unit to glorify God.Through the process of sublte temptation through Satanic dialogue and willingness on Adam and Eve’s part, found in Gen 3:1-13, some terrible things occured; things that continue to this day and will continue until God ends time and humanity as we know it. – These things are: doubting the word of God, devalueing the word of God, distorting the word of God, denying the word of God, denouncing the word of God and finally, distrusting the Word of god .The sin of one family member affected and infected the rest of the family and ultimately the entire human race.The same truth is spoken of in James 1:8-16. James reveals to us 5 downward steps in the integrity of man.”A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished bringeth forth death.”James 1:8-15 KJV.Doublemindedness, desire, deception, disobedience and death.This first family unit , by its ordained head, Adam, was responsible for man falling from His perfect position in God’s creation, and then realising spirtual death and ultimately physical death, because God did not receive the glory that was due Him. And because of Adam’s sin, all have fallen short of giving God the glory due Him for He alone is worthy to be praised because of his excellent greatness.This family unit was expected to produce children who would be nurtured in the ways and the admonitions of the Lord, with the express purpose of being a witness to the glory of God, but notice, the fall of Adam occured before there were children.The family as witness for the glory of God begins with the head and then to the mother and then to the children, and take note: that children have no personal witness to the glory of God until they, like any other sinner have been saved by the grace of God.The failure of the first human family to glorify god is no different than our families today, failing to glorify god as we should. Sin is the root cause of our failure, but our failure is not final. the grace and mercy of our lord were avaolable to adam and eve and they are to his adopted children today.However, the same sublte temptation and satanic dialogue to cause God’s true children and families to defect from the sure and pure of word is ever present.Today it does not manifest itself through the lips of a serpent.But, the deliverers of the lies and Satanic dialogues are just as dangerous.It may come in the form of Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism, Secular Humanism, Mormanism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or New Age religions and philosophies in its myriad of manifestations.It comes from the host of untruths that we are subjected to in the media, in the workplace and in our schools.We are bombarded with the lies of secularism, behavioral psychology and evolutionary teaching and to some degree you have no control over this attack. There is a disease or a disorder to explain every action of every little disobedient brat and every immoral adult who is immersed in their sinful behavior. There is an excuse or someone to blame it on or a pill to control the symptoms.The world says do not use the rod or you will destroy the child. the world says your sexual appetites are natural animal tendencies, so have it your way. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life are what you need to be healthy and wealthy and worldly wise, so get your instant gratification, but do it safely and legally when ever it is possible.The world says be full of yourself. Get Self esteem, seek self improvement, discover self actualization.But God says deny yourself, apart from me you cannot do anything of eternal value, and know Me and My will.So brethren, in light of such seemingly overwhelming circumstances, how do families become a witness in this wicked world of condemned sinners? How do we as pilgrims on a temporary journey uphold the eternal truths as God’s adopted children knowing that our Father has provided for us all spritual blessings in Christ Jesus and daily blesses us with benefits? We do it by acknowledging the the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! We do it by not forgetting that For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. “Not only all things in nature and providence, he being the Maker and cause of things, and the preserver and supporter of them … and to whose glory they are all designed and directed; but all things in grace owe their origins to him, as their first cause; they are produced by him, and make for his glory; they all spring from his sovereign will, are brought about by his almighty power, and tend to the glory of his grace; as does every thing in election, redemption, and regeneration: particularly the counsels and purposes of God respecting men… which all rise out of his own heart, without any motive or inducement to them in the creature; are accomplished by his divine power,notwithstanding all the opposition of men and devils; and all issue in his glory, even such of them as may seem to carry in them severity to some of his creatures: and since this is the case, the following doxology, or ascription of glory to God, is justly and pertinently made, and which will be given to him by angels and men to all eternity, for the perfection of his being, the counsels of his will, and the works of his hands, both of nature and grace;” John Gill
