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It is written:
Malachi 2:14-16-Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the LORD has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. 15 But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. 16 “For the LORD God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one’s garment with violence,” Says the LORD of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously.”
In Malachi’s day and age, there were many men who were abandoning their wives and their families. God told the Prophet to call the people to repentance, and pointed out one reason for the need to maintain marriage as God instituted it: “He seeks godly offspring.”
In other words, one of the reasons why marriage and the family as God instituted them are so essential is that His way provides the best foundation for raising godly children. Like Malachi, we are living in a country where marriage and the family are under constant attack.
Sadly, history shows what happens when people depart from God’s standard for the family:
“However, marriage is much more than the private relationship of two people in a marriage. Marriage is a social institution that provides society with the very foundation of civilization—the procreating family unit. There would be no stability for children and, therefore, no community without marriage. In fact, marriage is the oldest and most basic of the three foundational institutions of Western civilization (the other two are government and the church). It is the most basic of the three because without children there would be no need for a government or a church, and no government or church can parent like a mom and a dad. The benefits of natural marriage cannot be overstated. It benefits the married couple, their children, our economy, and the nation as a whole. In fact, natural marriage serves as a kind of national immune system. When our marriages are strong, our nation is strong and our social problems are few. When our marriages are weak, so is our nation. Natural marriage: a. Lengthens life spans of men and women. 6 b. Civilizes men and focuses them on productive pursuits. Unmarried men cause society much more trouble than married men. (How many married men do you know who rove neighborhoods in street gangs?) c. Protects women, who often give up or postpone their careers to have children, from being abandoned and harmed economically by uncommitted men. d. Protects mothers from violent crime. Mothers who have never been married are more than twice as likely to suffer from violent crime as mothers who have married. 7 e. Lowers welfare costs to society. 8 f. Encourages an adequate replacement birth rate, resulting in enough productive young people to contribute to society and provide social security to the elderly. The United States’ birth rate is about 2.1 per couple—any lower and the nation cannot sustain itself without immigration. Children from natural marriage homes are: a. Seven times less likely to live in poverty9 b. Six times less likely to commit suicide10 c. Less than half as likely to commit crime11 d. Less than half as likely to become pregnant out of wedlock12 e. Develop better academically and socially13 f. Healthier physically and emotionally when they reach adulthood14 These positive results of marriage are not new to our twenty-first century culture. Since virtually the dawn of humanity, marriage has been the bedrock of human social structure. In fact, British anthropologist J.D. Unwin studied eighty-six civilized and uncivilized cultures spanning five thousand years and found that the most prosperous cultures were those that maintained a strong marriage ethic. Every civilization that abandoned this ethic, including the Roman, Babylonian, and Sumerian empires, experienced demise soon after liberalizing their sexual practices. 15 A civilized and productive society will not long endure if its adults abandon their children and one another in order to pursue sexual desires outside of natural marriage.” (Frank Turek, Correct, Not Politically Correct: How Same-Sex Marriage Hurts Everyone, Updated and Expanded, 12-13 (Kindle Edition); Charolette, NC; CrossExamined.org)
Amazingly, even the first Book of the Bible-Genesis-highlights these things as well!
“Genesis is filled with human drama that touches and helps every one of us on a personal level. For example, every family in Genesis is what we today would call dysfunctional. I regard this as a divine gift. If your family is dysfunctional, the fact that all the families in Genesis are dysfunctional should provide you with some solace. I think the Bible is telling us that family dysfunction is a normal—though not necessarily inevitable—part of the human condition. Indeed, all of Genesis is a statement of how troubled the human condition is. The rest of the Bible, especially the next four books, provides solutions to the troubled human condition. To put it in medical terms, Genesis describes the patient’s (the human being’s) pathology, and the books that follow offer the wisdom and moral instruction necessary to cure the patient.” (Dennis Prager, The Rational Bible: Genesis, 15-16 (Kindle Edition); Washington, DC: Regnery Faith)
The more individuals depart from the Word of God, the more families are affected. The more families are affected, the more nations are affected.
Let’s do our best to fight for the family as God calls us to. Where we need guidance, let’s seek God’s Word; where we need repentance, let’s repent; and where we need God’s help, let’s be willing to receive it-and to offer it to others.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
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