Welcome!
Today: Enjoying the fellowship of God and family
Passage: Ephesians 5
29 After all, people have never hated their own bodies, but they feed and care for them, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as
he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Eph 5, NIV)- emphasis added
Apostle Paul brings to light the kind of relationship/fellowship that God wants to have with us as well as among ourselves God wants an intimate relationship with us-we are “one body” with God
What is it that we can do, to add some intimacy to our relationship with God?
In a world where people are getting more and more disconnected with people and getting more connected with their gadgets and the “net”,
We should not underestimate the need for intimate relationship
When paul speaks about marriage, he speaks about leaving and clinging: “a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife”
In this first part of that verse, Paul is not talking about a physical seperation and union, but an emotional one
You could still be living (not leaving) in the same home with your parents, but you are emotionally connected to your spouse now. Paul speaks about the “physical union” in the next part of the verse: “and the two will become one flesh”
Once married, you focus on your family. Many families struggle because the man/woman is physically in the house but emotionally “missing”
If I am emotionally “absent” in my family, then who will fill that gap?
When I have my personal things to do, I can do it after giving enough of my time for the family; not by stealing time out of the family moments. That is not worth it. If we are “married” to our computers and stuff while we are still married to a person, what do we call that? We cannot take care of too many!
We need to know that God comes first, family next, and job and everything comes only after that. If that is not how we want it, don’t get married!
We spend a good part of our day at work. We better give the rest of our time to God and family, and then only to anything else (reading/writing..)
Are we doing the right thing? If not, it is time to start new
I wonder if some of us will want to take our laptops and smart phones to heaven so that we can keep “browsing” in heaven! (we better train ourselves to live without them, at least once in a while!)
God bless you!
BG
Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to come back to where I should be, in relation to you and my family. Give me the right perspective. Thank you, for your word. I thank you for my parents, brothers/sisters and above all, for my family. Amen
“Relationship without intimacy can be like food without salt”