Family Supper

edir macedo, family gets together, good family principles, parents, peaceful home, teenage pregnancies, the Lord, the modern family, values,

Lately, many people have neglected this subject, which is why many families are completely destroyed. I’m referring to the values of the past, which we’ve learned from our parents and grandparents and, that is – good family principles. Sadly, our current generation considers these values to be unnecessary.

No matter what changes occur, we cannot forget that these values helped to shape many good people in society and solidified many families. Regardless of how simple the meal, everyone found pleasure in being together. It was sacred, it was an irreplaceable moment; it was dinnertime.

Parents made time to find out how their children’s day was. Couples also shared the events that took place during the day. Unfortunately, those times no longer exist or, if they do, they are few and far between. Today, when a family gets together, everyone is on their mobile phone, tablet, headset clamped to their ears, and some even leave the table before finishing their meal to rush and sit in front of the TV, just so that they don’t have to interact with one another. There are even those who lock themselves in their room and woe to those who try entering without permission!

In the past, children were looked after and raised by their mothers but, today, these two important parts of young, mouldable years are being taken care of by babysitters, video games, cartoons, Internet and such like. Modern mothers don’t have the time or pleasure to do this.

In the past, children were taught not to meddle in adult conversations and to respect their elders. Today, many are extremely disrespectful towards them. They talk to adults as if they were speaking to their peers. There was respect towards the older brother, as if he were a second father to the younger siblings. When the parents were not home, he was responsible for the home and for the other children. Today, we hear of brother killing brother and son killing parents.

Instead, how about asking for our parents’ blessing before going to bed and, again, when we wake up in the morning? Children believed in their parents’ blessing, but this is rare nowadays.

When a young man was interested in a young lady, he went to her home to ask for her parents’ permission to date and that action marked the beginning of the relationship. When things got serious, he would then ask them for her hand in marriage. But, who does this nowadays? It has become unnecessary.

Nowadays, when parents find out their daughter is dating, she’s already pregnant and, in many cases, they’ve already become grandparents and don’t even know. Because of this (lack of the values of the past), many women cry every day, because they did not give due attention to these values.

They do not know how to be wives, mothers, girlfriends, “queens of their home”; they did not apply these values in their lives, precisely because they felt it was unnecessary. Today, they realise that these values are absolutely necessary – as if you remove the columns from a building, it will crumble. This is exactly what is happening to many families; they are crumbling because they lack a foundation, which are the values of the past.

In the modern family, the wife does not submit to her husband and the husband has no consideration for his wife. This lack of discipline in the home pushes the children out of the home to look elsewhere for the family they’ve never had.

I ask you: which is the best family, the traditional or the modern?

Analyse the results of both.

We know the number of teenage pregnancies, drug abuse, crime and delinquency, in general, has grown in recent years.

Psalm 128 has the formula to rescue these family values.

This is the example to follow: God, husband, wife, children.

Husband
“Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways!
When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.”
– He is the provider, the hunter.

Wife
“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine.”
– A wise woman has her family in the palm of her hand.

Children
“Your children like olive plants all around your table.”
– Olive plants represent the strength and vitality of children.

“Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.
The Lord bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!”

Anyone can have a house, a building, but a blessed family and a peaceful home comes from the Hands of God.

Bishop Edir Macedo
www.bispomacedo.com.br/en
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