We continue our Modern Family series this Sunday talking about the concept of oneness – how do a husband and wife seek to be one when so many things push us toward division? God’s initial mandate for married couples is that they were to become “one flesh.” This instruction not only includes physical intimacy but also a oneness of life – same agenda, goals, heart, etc. Oneness is a process and does not happen instantaneously. But it is also something a couple must work to obtain.
The truth is you are either growing closer or further apart from your spouse. There is no middle ground on this one. And we all know that oneness does not just happen – particularly the longer you are married.
What we will also discover this weekend at GP is that it is good things that normally threaten the oneness, particularly children. When a child or children enter the scene, everything naturally changes. Married life is simply never the same. Two threats emerge when children arrive: a child-centered home or a couples-only home.
The child-centered home makes the children the central part of the family. This common and natural shift is probably the highest threat to the oneness of the marriage. It is a code red threat.
A couples-only home creates an environment where children are not nurtured and loved in a way that shifts their dependence from their parents to God. The most important aspects of raising a child are neglected and the child often seeks what they should receive from their parents in other places. Again – this faulty approach threatens the oneness of the marriage and the stability of the home and even the health of the child.
A healthy home begins with a healthy marriage. Can children be raised properly in an environment where oneness is not a reality? Absolutely. Can children grow up and love God from single-parent homes or divorce situations or unhealthy marriages? Absolutely. Is it God’s ideal? Absolutely not. Protect the oneness.