Confusion reigns. As a result, boundaries for today’s youth are unclear
or nonexistent.
A family reformation will occur at the intersection where daily
issues of life like these collide with God’s unchanging truth. And
where do most such “collisions” occur? They occur at home, in every mar-
riage and family.That’s where convictions must be clear.
Second, a family reformation will require courage.God said to Joshua
(not once but three times) as he assumed leadership of the Israelites,
“Be strong and courageous” (Josh. 1:6, 9, 18).
Our lack of courage today is partially a result of our having few
convictions. Chuck Colson has said, “Courage does not follow rutted
pathways.” If we want to win a popularity contest in our families,
churches, and ministries, we need only to follow the crowd down the
road most traveled—the avenue of compromise. But if we want to
proclaim the truth of God’s Book, we will have to take the narrow
path, where traffic is light.
Sometimes the courage required is not so much that of pro-
claiming God’s Word in public but of living it out at home. It might
be as basic as a husband seeking to pray regularly with his wife. A pas-
tor I know once stood before a group of men and said, “I have been
listening to the call to pray with my wife for ten years and haven’t done
it. But I am stepping forward today and doing the courageous thing.
I will pray with my wife every day.”
Or courage may be required of parents when their teenager says,
“Mom, Dad, how far should I go with the opposite sex before I get
married?” It seems that in the Christian community we don’t know
where to draw the line for our sons and daughters when it comes to
premarital sex. We know we are against fornication and adultery, but
our true convictions on activities that precede sexual intercourse are
fuzzy. As a result, what happens to young people? They start down the
slick slope of premarital intimacy and, without boundaries regarding
sex, often slide over the edge. If clear, biblically based standards and
boundaries concerning the opposite sex are absent, the world’s stan-
dards will take their place. That’s exactly what is happening to
Local Church Family Ministry in the New Millennium 17