





I was listening to the radio today on the way from church to the chiropractor’s office and the pastor was speaking on family. He commented that When Cain killed Abel, it wasn’t because of violent games he played on his console, or anything he learned from his classmates, nor was it anything he had gotten off the internet. The pastor’s point was the motivation to kill Abel came from within Cain’s heart, not his environment or the people he associated with. I thought about it and realized this was the very first family to walk the earth and they were DYSFUNCTIONAL. Then I pondered, I have never known a “functional” family, so what if there is NO dysfunctional family? What if the family unit is flawed by nature? God designed Adam and Eve to live together in the garden, but never mentioned child bearing until AFTER the fall of man. What if the family unit is flawed because of the sin Adam and Eve incurred in their life.
We are ALL dysfunctional. It is not because of our mother and father divorcing, it is not because of drug abuse, nor is it even because of physical abuse. It is because of the separation of our hearts from our creator. Divorce, drug abuse, physical abuse, these things are results of the sin, not the cause of the sin.
Looking at each other, and families with this mindset, be encouraged that NO ONE except for Christ was/is perfect. Romans 3:23 tells us that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Therefore, it isn’t because we are failures, it isn’t because we are less of a human being, rather it is because of the spiritual chasm that lies between us and our creator, our true purpose.
I have a really screwed up family; stuff that inspires horror stories, but we are NOT dysfunctional, we are merely sinners.