This group consisted of sisters Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge. This set of sibling singers achieved spectacular success internationally at the height of the “disco” era of modern music. In April, 1979, they released their breakthrough album “We Are Family” which included a U.S. Top Ten single by the same title, “We Are Family.” One verse in the song included these lyrics: “Everyone can see we’re together as we walk on by, And we fly just like birds of a feather / I won’t tell no lie All of the people around us they say, Can they be that close? Just let me state for the record / We’re giving love in a family dose.” The song celebrated the sisters’ family bond.
What do you think about when you hear the word “family”? Some might want to think of it as a perfect place with perfect people where there is never a problem of any kind, a place where everybody and everything is just “hunky-dory,” a place where the family-motor is fine-tuned and there is never a misfire or flaw or failure or fracture. But observation, human experience and the Bible testify to a very different reality. Like Homer Simpson of TV’s (in)famous “The Simpsons” said, “As far as anyone knows, we’re a nice, normal family.” Now me let state clearly, there IS such a thing as “family.” The world has drifted far away from God’s original design and plan. Ideally, marriage as described in the Bible, is between one man and one woman, indissoluble until death unless there is marital infidelity. Inside marriage a husband and wife love and devote themselves to each other in physical, emotional, and spiritual intimacy. They bear and nurture and bring up children inside that lifelong bond (see for instance Genesis 1:26-28 * Genesis 2:18-25 * Matthew 19:1-9 * Deuteronomy 6:1-9 * Ephesians 5:22-6:4, etc.). Clearly, legal adoption pleases God and fits His plan for family. After all, He has adopted millions of men and women into His family over time (Ephesians 1:4-5 * Romans 8:14-16)! While the world touts a “new normal” and evolving and ever-changing family forms, the Bible still declares, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral” (Hebrews 13:4). The marriage all are called upon to honor in that passage is marriage the way God defines it, not what contemporary culture decides it is. Truly, the perfect family does not exist. Even those who strive to follow the Bible’s divinely revealed plan for marriage and family life are sometimes flawed and suffer setbacks. But the flaw is not with God’s plan. The flaw is with people in the family (Isaiah 53:6 * Romana 3:23). Yet, there are families that please God. Carl Schurz said, “Ideals are like stars you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you reach your destiny.” Psalm 127:1a asserts, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” If you choose God’s Word to guide you, your marriage and family life can be strong, even if there are flaws. But you must follow God’s plan. Stay together like birds of a feather! Think about it.
By: Dan Gulley, Smithville TN