Morality Starts at Home

When we violate God’s wisdom, we pay for it, literally. On March 9, 2010, LifeSiteNews.com reported,

“Family breakdown now costs Britain £41.7 billion per year, estimates the Relationships Foundation, a British-based think tank…

The Foundation’s estimate includes £12.38 billion in tax credits and benefits, £4.27 billion in housing support, and £13.68 billion in health and social care. The authors report that their estimate works out to £1,350 a year per taxpayer.”

The Foundation describes these costs as both “unsustainable” and rising “rapidly” and adds that,

“Functioning families are key to learning, capacity building, acquiring skills and providing welfare. They provide social care and support worth £73 billion a year in the UK, and family businesses generate turnover in excess of £1 trillion, contributing £73 billion each year in tax.”

How are we to understand this deterioration? “In an op-ed for the Daily Mail at the end of January, columnist Melanie Phillips connected the breakdown of the family with the erosion of the institution of marriage in British society. ‘The disintegration of the family lies at the heart of the progressive breakdown of moral and social behaviour - and the erosion of marriage lies at the heart of that disintegration.’”

Of course, this comes as no surprise. We are killing ourselves and our societies with our philosophy of instant self-gratification and “my-needs-first-ism.” This will prove to not only be a dead-end financially, but also emotionally, interpersonally, and medically. We don’t build lasting and meaningful relationships by placing our own gratification first. Any 10-year-old can tell us that. Nor do we build healthy minds and bodies by indulging our every whim.

So what’s the answer? The Church! Before all else, we have to show the world that we have the answer and that we are willing to take the same medicine that we dish out. We have to put God’s will above our own. Nobody will take our prescription seriously, when they see us flush it down the toilet.