LOVE AND THE FAMILY

Pastor Nike Adeyemi         |                 Romans 8:28, 1 John 4:7
As believers, we have the capacity to love. The Bible says in 1 John 4:7, ‘beloved let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and he who does not love does not know God, for God is love.’ This scripture establishes that love is the major key in the life of a believer. It is a sign that we are disciples of God. Love differentiates Christians from unbelievers because the unbelievers and the enemy cannot show love. Love is an action word; we must express it.
Love is the key and it starts from the home. God loves families; He sets the solitary in families and desires we adopt children to provide them with the love from a family setting. When we teach our children to love from an early age, they grow up being loving people who are not easily offended. Even when they are offended, they depend on the Holy Spirit’s power to help them love (Romans 5:5).
In families, we have to learn to love our children equally, despite their differences and behavior, showing no form of favoritism. Our financial situation or experiences should not be an excuse not to love our spouses or children; in Exodus Chapter 2, Amram and Jochebed gave birth to a son, Moses in slavery and loved him despite their circumstances. Their situation was so bad that they lived in fear of Pharaoh’s guards, who had the power to kill their child. This example shows us that God wants us to see our children through the eyes of God, through the eyes of forgiveness, and through the eyes of love. However, we must not love our children selfishly; we should be able to correct and chastise them in love, whenever they do the wrong thing or err. When we teach our children to love, they will be sensitive to one another and to the people they will lead in any position they are privileged to hold.
We should endure and be patient with our family members. Most times, we easily forgive our children yet we do not easily forgive our spouses or family members. We must learn to forgive and restrain ourselves from expressing our opinions when we are angry. It is important to express all the love languages to our spouses but we should know our spouses major love language and express love to them in a language they can understand. In addition, to keep your relationship fresh and strong, do not let the sun go down on your wrath. Solve all issues that arise daily. Finally, let us always remind ourselves that, Love is the key, it answers many questions.