Is The Family Freak Flag Flying High Today?

A young married couple came to me with a problem in their marriage. The wife blamed the husband and the husband blamed the wife. The children were present to witness all the hostility and verbal diarrhea from both of their parents. In other words, their family freak flag was flying high that day! They wanted my ears more than my advice but if I had to hear their mess then they had to hear my sermon. (their punishment for such poor behavior) They really didn't want my advice on how to help their situation but instead each hoping I would point the finger at the other and give them all the blame.

One thing I have learned about marriage and that is when you are more interested in who is to blame it's a huge red flag. Who cares who is to blame because there is enough of that to go around in every marriage. How exhausting is it to destroy the ones we are supposed to love? What kind of example are we leaving our children when we fight like adult toddlers with each other? These are the moments that I get why God flooded the earth because of all the evil in the hearts of the people. I am also grateful for his mercy and grace because of His promise in the following verses to not destroy us all when there is still so much more evil in all of us today.      
                                  
  Genesis 8:21-22  And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

 This was taken inside Bethesda by the Sea church May 5, 2012.