What do you think of when you think of prophecy? Do you think of the rise of the Beast and the great cataclysmic events leading up to the end of the age? Or do you think of what the Church should be doing in preaching the gospel to the world as a witness? Or do you think of preparing the Bride of Christ for the marriage supper of the Lamb? Or do you think of the last two verses of the Old Testament? "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse" (Malachi 4:5-6). All prophecy is important, but this one is imperative. We must heed the warning and build strong families.

The view of some is that the Elijah work has already been done. If the Elijah work has been done, why do we see families continuing to fragment? Why do we see so many young people go their own way as soon as they have the opportunity to do so? Why do parents spend less and less time with their families? If the Elijah work has been done, why do we see a general lack of zeal and commitment in the Body of Christ?

Family Relationships

As members of the Body of Christ we have been called out to bring people into a relationship with their heavenly Father. We have been called to sonship in the family of God. Families are all about relationships. Relationships require time to build. The mere fact that parents bring forth children and provide for their physical needs does not necessarily mean they have a relationship with their children. Even families who eat together, a rare occurrence today, don't necessarily have a relationship with each other.

The foundation of all lasting relationships is love. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Christ states that the greatest love is laying down our lives for our friends. He also teaches us to obey Him and openly communicate with each other (John 15:13-15). It should be apparent that God and Christ have extended sacrificial love to us. Our loving heavenly Father gave His only Son. The Son came to the earth, spent time in teaching the disciples and gave His life so we could be reconciled to God and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Sacrificial love requires giving up self for the benefit of others. That is why the apostle Paul wrote, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Family members must be willing to give themselves up for the sake of other family members. Time is the substance that life is made of. We must devote time to building family relationships, if we hope to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers.

Satan, the god of this present evil age, has developed a consumer-crazed society that desires to have more and more. The apostle Paul equates covetousness with idolatry, "Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5). Peter warned that the time would come when our children would be under a curse because of the sinful and covetous practices of the people (2 Peter 2:14). But somehow Satan has deceived people into believing that more is better. The acquiring of material wealth is often equated with success. So people now sacrifice their families and children on the altar of materialism in order to have more things. Whereas, scripture warns that we should "beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" (Luke 12:15).

The Ledger of Life

So do you know how to live? You might immediately reply, "Oh, yes, I know how to live." Solomon summed it up: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). Yes, one could say that this is the sum of the matter. But all sums are derived from more than one entry. The ledger of life consists of many entries.

We are physical beings who engage in physical activities. Some of them are necessary for survival and some are not. Some bring us enjoyment and some bring us pain. We are admonished to take care of our bodies since they are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

We are mental beings who engage in thinking, planning and meditating. We can also imagine, fantasize and project our feelings that are also called emotions. We cannot exercise God's Spirit if we don't properly direct our thoughts and feelings. These feelings or emotions can range from love to hate and rage that can do others and us great harm. Solomon wrote, "Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls" (Proverbs 25:28).

We are social beings who engage in social activities. Social activities have to do with human beings living together and interacting with one another. The English word social comes from the Latin word socius which means companion. A companion is one who associates with you or accompanies you. The Bible admonishes us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together especially as we see the day approaching (Hebrews 10:25). There is no question that we can draw strength from one another. A person might say, "Oh I can get more out of the Sabbath by staying at home and studying my Bible." But notice the focus on "I." If we are going to do the Elijah work and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, we must give up self and set the example in building relationships with the brethren.

We are also capable of engaging in spiritual activities. There are two spiritual influences in the universe, and we are led by one or the other of these influences. Each one of us projects what we might call a good spirit or a bad spirit. This is often referred to as our attitude. Attitude literally means bodily posture that reflects one's state of mind or mood. One of the reasons the prophet Daniel was given such great favor by kings was the fact that he was of an excellent spirit (Daniel 5:12; 6:3).

What does all of this have to do with learning how to live? It is quite elementary. All the facets of our being have to be educated, trained and disciplined to respond in ways that glorify God and reflect light and hope to those around us. Without this education, training and discipline we are merely copycats and reactionary beings: pawns on the chessboard of life being merely shuffled about by the circumstances that surround us. This is analogous to a circus animal that is conditioned to respond to the stimulus set before him. If someone pulls our chain, we respond as we have been conditioned to respond. If he says something bad about me, I am going to say something bad about him. If he hits me, I am going to hit him.

Parents have the responsibility of bringing children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). It is interesting and instructive to note that the English word nurture is translated from the Greek word paideia which means discipline. A baby begins to bond with his or her mother from the instant of birth. If the mother sends out the right signals, the baby feels secure, safe and loved. If there is any sense of rejection on the part of the mother or the father, it will be perceived by the infant. We imprint the behavior of our parents. In the developmental stages of life, we all imitate our parents. We learn to eat as they eat, dress as they dress, keep house as they keep house, to be orderly as they are orderly, to be clean as they are clean, to be courteous as they are courteous, to be outgoing as they are outgoing, to be critical as they are critical, to be encouraging as they are encouraging, to be negative as they are negative, to show affection as they show affection, to pout as they pout, to curse as they curse, to show our emotions as they show their emotions, to think as they think, to talk as they talk, to walk as they walk.

This phenomenon of bonding and imitating the parents is perhaps the strongest and strangest drive in living creatures. Orphaned kittens placed with a female dog will bond with her. As we begin to interact with others in various social settings, such as playing with the neighborhood children, going to the park and going to school, we react to others as we do in the family setting. Indeed the family is the fabric of society. When the family unravels so does the society.

So once again I ask, do you know how to live? It seems to me that if we know how to live we would have a plan for living. Let's just take a quick inventory to see where we are. Do you have any definite activity planned for you and your family? Do you have any definite plans to sit on the front porch or any place and just relax for 30 minutes a day? Recently on a Friday afternoon my wife and I were sitting in the backyard, just relaxing and reflecting on the day and the week when the topic of conversation turned to how families ought to be close and spend time together. She stated that when she was growing up her grandparents lived in the country and on Sundays the extended family went to Grandma's house. The kids played with their cousins and the adults sat around on the porch and talked. Occasionally the kids would come on the front porch and get a hug from Grandma.

Is it naïve to think that this kind of family interaction can be recaptured? One thing is for sure, the importance of these family times cannot be overestimated. In order for children to develop a sense of identification and emotional bonding with family members they must spend time together. I will give you a real life example. I grew up in a very close-knit family community. Nearly all the neighbors were related to each other. My closest friends were three first cousins (boys) that were about my age. We played together every opportunity we got. But there was one significant difference between them and me. That was the interaction of our fathers with us. Their dad was a Baptist preacher. He apparently thought that an idle mind was the devil's workshop. He never played with the boys; he always had a string of work laid out for them to do. There was little time for anything but work and religion. By the time these boys were in their early teens they had already left him emotionally.

My Dad's Example

In contrast, my dad took me fishing; he played football and baseball with me. Several times we would get on my old bicycle and peddle down to the creek where we would beat the creek banks all day long in search of a bite. We mainly got mosquito bites, but these are among the most memorable days of my life. So many parents lose their children by not taking the time to interact with them on their turf. These were the days in which "life was really hard." We didn't have all these modern conveniences that save all this time so we could have more time for family activities.

I remember how happy we were when we were able to purchase an electric refrigerator, an electric stove and a washing machine. We were astounded when the world went to a 40-hour workweek. But along with these conveniences came a Babylonian economic system that began to gobble up our lives. Other inventions came along rapidly that began to turn our world upside down. Some were beneficial and some had a negative effect on our culture. Perhaps the most damnable of all was the television set. Television has to a large degree replaced our interaction with each other. We have all become peeping Toms. We look through the window at the soul of the world and somehow think that we are connected with each other. Television is now the first or second greatest socializing force in a child's life. People came to believe that it was far more exciting to stare at the tube and watch the Sunday movie than it was to go visit Mamma and Pappa. It was far more exciting to watch the St. Louis Cardinals or the Chicago Cubs on television than it was to watch the local baseball team. So visiting Mamma and Pappa, and supporting the local team, went by the boards. We were now tuned into the world. We had now arrived. But in the process we nourished our lusts and starved our souls. Material things cannot fill the holes in our souls.

What about you? Are you making memories for your children? Do you have any definite plans for a family outing? For a father-son outing, for a mother-daughter outing? Do you have any definite plans for having anyone over to your home? Do you have any definite plans for exercising your body? Do you have any definite plans for improving your mental abilities, such as reading books or taking classes? Do you have any definite plans for growing spiritually-such as mastering the book of Romans or Galatians? Do you have any definite plans for growing emotionally so that you will demonstrate an excellent spirit? Do you have a life or are you just reacting to life? We must not let the paradoxes of this age dictate our lives: we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and emptier lives; more conveniences, but less time. We've learned how to make a living, but not how to live. We've added years to life, not life to years. Are you a victim of these paradoxes? If so, you can learn how to live and begin changing the paradoxes of your life.

The work of Elijah is not as mystical as it might seem or sound. John the Baptist did the work of Elijah in his day and he did no miracles. But he did give his life to making a difference. He stood in the gap just before the first advent of Christ. God is looking for men and women, boys and girls to stand in the gap before His Second Coming. God is looking for parents who are willing to provide sacrificial love to their families. God is looking for people who will give themselves up so others can grow and succeed. God is looking for boys and girls who courageously seek to honor their parents and their heavenly Father. God is looking for you and me to stand in the gap in such a time as this.