God made the family
Genesis 2:18-22 (by Pastor Shatney)
After God had created everything, he looked all the things he had made and said it was “good.†There was one thing, however, which God said was “not good.†Adam, being alone, was not complete. God then set about making the suitable helper to complete Adam. He created Woman. God’s plan for them, was to be a team. Neither was totally self-sufficient or complete on their own.
Dr. Dwight Small said that there cause to be humble on both sides. It’s humbling for the woman to know that she was made from man. It’s humbling for the man to know that he was incomplete without her. Yet, there is cause for satisfaction too. The woman completes the man. With the woman, man can be complete. The two become one. The two, however, are not identical.
The world of science is often able to quantify the differences between men and women. Men are more aggressive, while women are more nurturing. Men’s brains are more separated into two halves, while women’s brains are more unified. Men have a more detachable attention, they’re able to focus. Women are more mult-task aware. Each difference has its advantages and disadvantages. Neither is the all-around superior. The advantages of one help offset the disadvantages of the other. Together, they are complete.
God made these differences. He planned for men and women to come together to form a family. The husband-and-wife arrangement was intended to be permanent. While children grow up, they’re part of the family, but eventually they grow up, leave the home and begin their own families. The child-parent arrangement was not intended to be permanent.
Many of our social problems can be traced back to disruption of God’s design for the family. Many books offer quick-fix solutions to family problems, but the important place to start is understanding God’s plan for men and women and their children. After all, he created the family. He should know.