Create A Prosperous Family Legacy
The alert that appeared on my phone last Sunday said, Louisiana mass shooting. Further details revealed that a husband, going through a separation, killed 8 children (7 were his own), critically wounded his wife and another woman, before himself being killed by police. This was a tragic story, that might negatively impact a family for generations. In Deuteronomy 6:3–9 and Matthew 19:3–9, Moses and Jesus gave instruction that reflects God’s desire to keep us and our families connected to Him and to one another. In so doing, He wants to bless and prosper us and our families for generations. I pray that we would adhere to the admonition to love God with our entire being and to love one another as we love ourselves. Amen
Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. (Deuteronomy 6:3)
Moses began this instruction to Israel as they were preparing for their entry into Canaan, the land God promised them and their ancestors. His message to them was that things would go well for them and they would increase greatly in the Promised Land, but only if they were careful to be obedient to God.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
Moses’ intended his message to Israel to be communicated beyond just those hearers who were in his presence. His message to Israel included an admonition to pass this requirement of obedience to God down from generation to generation. The reason for this was to make sure each generation knew that their well being and prosperity in the Promised Land was a function of their total loving commitment to God. This message was never to be far from their hearts and minds. They were to place reminders around their homes and on their persons. The commandments Moses gave them were to be front and center for them from the time they arose in the morning until the time they lay down at night.
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:6-9)
In an attempt to discredit Jesus, the Pharisees came to Him with a question about divorce. They asked if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason. They anchored their question and their logic in the Mosaic law, and wanted to see if Jesus advocated violation of it. Jesus’ answer bypassed the Mosaic law that allowed for divorce. He went back to God’s original intention for marriage from the beginning. That intention was that two people would become one flesh when they were joined together in marriage by God. Because the process of joining two people together was God’s work, divorce was sinful and remarriage was adultery. Jesus made it clear that the Mosaic law regarding divorce was only given to accommodate men’s hardened hearts. However, God’s original intention for marriage superseded their reliance on the Mosaic law for divorce.
Conclusion
Moses and Jesus’ teachings point us back to God’s intention for our wellbeing and our family’s wellbeing. When we have a devoted relationship with God, and we steer our family toward that same devotion to Him, God works things for the good of us and our family. Loving God and loving our family means that we follow Him and teach our family to follow Him. That is how we keep our families together and bless them with well being and a prosperous legacy.
Blessings, Rev. Glenn
