Family Focus Issues - Essay Example

In a family, the members are either related by blood or related by law or marriage, like a husband and wife. The Bible sees the family, not as a cultural construct but as a fundamental God-given institution built into the very nature of the universe. The biblical record of the creation of the world centers on the human family, starting with the creation of Adam and Eve.

God wants us to live in happy families. Ephesians 2:10 provides some insight, explaining that God prearranged a good life for us. Joyce Meyer says that you and I can have that life only if we choose to walk in it and if we submit to His will for us. The key is obedience. Obedient followers of God, like Noah and Daniel, received radical blessings from God. Sir John Bowring has said that a happy family is but an earlier heaven, and Leo Tolstoy has accurately observed that: All happy families resemble each other, and each unhappy family is unhappy in its way.

Family problems like divorce, illegitimate children, child abuse, and broken homes result from family breakdown. Family problems result in social problems like crime and poverty, sexual promiscuity, economic setbacks, etc. On the website of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, different physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and addictive problems in families are discussed. Some examples are adolescent behavioral problems, caregiving for the elderly, the effect of anger on families, marital distress, infidelity, substance abuse, etc. Individual or group counseling, medical or psychiatric treatment, treating issues in relationships and improving family bonds and relationships need to be undertaken, with the cooperation of the member or family in need of help. Families which have internal oppression, blaming and discrimination also need outside help. Once destructive patterns set in, families owe it to themselves to seek assistance in re-establishing good family bonds. Timely and effective outside help can change the climate in a home, rescue families from self-destruction, and even prevent divorces in some instances.

Infidelity in marriage is a major cause of relationship problems to arise. Since prevention is always better than cure, couples should work hard to stay connected, talk often gives quality time to each other, and be supportive and loyal. For dealing with infidelity, on the Relationships page of the online Ladies Home Journal Magazine, post-affair coping moves are given, to reconnect and strengthen the marital bond between the couple. Starting with acknowledging the infidelity and ending the affair, the couple is advised to determine the reasons for the infidelity, discuss the behaviors that the partners need to change, restore trust and show respect for the faithful partner, enjoy time together, and share hopes and dreams for a new and improved future together.

Family values are those qualities or principles associated with the family, which are intrinsically valuable or desirable. In society at large, true family values are needed, which define both norms and goals. We need principles for achieving freedom, peace, unification, and happiness. Examples of such principles are: learning true love in the school of the family, making a commitment to one’s family and hometown, etc.

Restoration in the Family: The family needs to commit to a life of true love. We need to reach the highest ideals, which in Christianity is called the “Kingdom of God”. No man is an island, and each individual is part of a family, just as each family is connected to society. In being responsible to a greater whole, and behaving with the larger interest at heart, we strengthen our families. This in turn results in a stronger and healthier society, “Believing in God is the key that opens the door to victory. Until we choose to believe what the Bible says, we are not going to experience it. That’s what it means to have faith. The world’s philosophy is “I’ll believe it when I see it,” but in God’s kingdom, the opposite is true. We must believe it first, and then we will see it. The only way in which we are going to see God’s power manifested in our lives is if we take Him at His Word and believe we already have it” (Joyce Meyer, 15).