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Marriage and Family

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“Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.” Revelation 3:2

Alarm Bells, Alarm Bells, Alarm Bells! I really don’t like alarm bells! My week began with driving into the church parking lot, getting out of my truck, thinking to myself, “that noise is different”. At first I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. But, as soon as I began walking closer to the church building, I quickly found that the noise was coming from inside the building. And, oh my was it NOISE! As uncomfortable as the noise was, I had to go into the building to check for smoke or fire, thankfully I didn’t find any. I finally found the silence button!

Alarm bells are for just what the name says. Alarm Bells (or other alarm horrible sounds) are designed to start in the case of emergency. Alarm bells are really, really good, because they tell you that something is wrong. On the other hand, alarm bells are really, REALLY annoying, uncomfortable, and sometimes feel unbearable. Regardless, alarm bells cause you to WAKE UP and do something about it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had alarm bells built into our relationships? If something was going wrong with our relationship with our spouse or our kids, an alarm went off and didn’t turn off until we did something about it. That would be really good. Unfortunately, I think to many people, like me, just find the silence button for the alarm and push it. The silence button doesn’t fix the problem; it only soothes the pain for the moment. In marriage and family life, all too often we are used to pushing the silence button, rather than taking the time to really work through the issues that are causing the problem in the first place. It’s really nice to have a silence button, but it’s even better to have fixed a strain in a relationship that will eventually lead to a fracture!

Here are some indicators that alarm bells may be ringing in your family:

1. You or your spouse get angry with each other on a frequent basis…
2. You haven’t had a date night with only your spouse for over a month…
3. Your son or daughter is spending more time with friends or other activities than with you…
4. You can’t have a conversation with your son/daughter without frustration…
5. You can’t remember the last time your family has prayed together…

These indicators are not to condemn, but only to spur your thinking… The fact is, marriages and families are being torn apart every day because the silence button is being pushed repeatedly and the problems are not being worked on. My Encouragement for you this week: If you find that alarm bells are ringing and you are not sure what to do; follow the instructions from the verse above and then seek help from a healthy Christian who cares.

Disclaimer: The context of the verse above is Jesus speaking to the church in Sardis. The interpretation is not regarding marriage; I am just making application from this verse for marriage.

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