The Trinity, The Family and Us...

Never before have I had a mystique like view of the family unit. I have been wrestling lately with the awesomeness of the Trinity as the first family. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each one distinctly unique yet they are one. God in all His great wisdom and love wanted to see an extension of His beautiful Triune family living here on the earth and so he created man to start the family. The whole idea has become quite revelatory to me lately. The family was God's idea because God is a family. He wanted a human representation of all the love, security, and joy that only the family unit can bring.

There has been so much written about the family and there are so many champions of the family like Dr Dobson who are trying to protect the family unit but his approach is way too political for me. We cannot legislate ourselves into a better family life. It is obvious that the human soul desires brotherhood and wants to be a part of something that represents a family unit. Young men who are abandoned by their parents at a very young age are desperate for a replacement and too often they become a part of gang because the gang members give them some distorted view of family life and belonging.

When I view church life in America, I usually find a core within the church that relate to one another like family. The founding group of 100 or 200 are solidly knit together but the next 500 or 1000 sometimes never become family. A real family can only absorb or take in so many members or it will cease to become a family. When I think about the years that Dar and I raised our kids, I can now better reflect on my mental state and approach as a father. I knew that my kids were going to screw up and blow it many times but that had no affect on my love or dedication towards them. I just accepted that as part of life. I knew that our family would work things out through sibling battles, parenting and just hanging in there.

So what's the mystique? I now see the family as the Lords way of teaching us the life that He lives in the Trinity and how He wants us to experience the same. That makes the breakdown of the family so much more devastating to me. We always measure the family breakdown on how harmful it is to us but it's worse than that. It's a perversion of God's greatest desire for us to live in peace and security. Strong families are a joy to be around. It makes you envious. You want that kind of strength. That is God's best for us.

There is a caveat that God teaches us about our devotion to family and that the family is never to take precedence over Him but it is obvious to me that strong natural families and strong spiritual families will always touch the heart of God.