Over the years/decades there have been the individuals or groups who seek to write God out of various parts of our society or indeed out of our nation. Where this has happened, we have seen a subsequent erosion of values/morals/behaviour and in some cases, what was illegal now being legalised. Marriage and family values have not been exempted from this.

Unless we are careful, we and our families can be overwhelmed by the violence that seems to be occurring around the world and is reported within a very short time of its’ occurrence in our media and internationally. International ‘news items’ get pushed aside by our media to report violence in our own nation, as has been the case recently. Alongside the news that is reported, there is a continued flow of films and other media that are based on violence in many media outlets.

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”   Proverbs 4:23 [NLT]

“Tell Him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always. Put into practice the example of all that you have heard from me or seen in my life and the God of peace will be with you in all things.”  Philippians 4:6-9 [TPT]

“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”  Colossians 3:2 [NKJT]

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”  2 Timothy 1:7 [NLT]

Amongst this reporting, over the last few months there has been a regular flow in our media relating to domestic violence or abuse.

Early in 2023 NSW police began ‘Operation Amarok’, a recurring operation, which targets the States’ most dangerous domestic violence offenders. The most recent of these 4 day State wide operations occurred, ‘Amarok V’ in early February in this year. In those 4 days the police arrested and charged 590 people with 1193 serious domestic violence offences.  Of those apprehended in ‘Amarok V’, 229 people were wanted for serious domestic and family violence offences. Since the start of the operation in 2023 there have been 3000 offenders arrested. It was also reported by the ACT police in January this year that the ACT saw a 20% increase in “Family Violence” in 2023 compared to 2022.

These figures are bad enough, but they are only part of the domestic and family violence scene in NSW, ACT and Australia it is believed there are many cases unreported to the police. Apart from physical abuse there is verbal/mental abuse, financial abuse all of which can also affect the children.

The men and women who are the aggressors potentially are employed somewhere and their behaviour in these places and in their social life is completely different to that when they are with their spouse and or children. Some years ago, John C Maxwell went to dinner in New York with the chairman and CEO of a well-known media/publishing group; at one stage in their conversation, the chairman/CEO said, “You know John, I think you would be the perfect person to do this: what would you think about writing a book on business ethics?” His response was “there’s no such thing” he went on to explain “There’s no such thing as business ethics -there’s only ethics. People try to use one set of ethics for their professional life, another for their spiritual life, and still another at home with their family. That gets them into trouble. Ethics is ethics. If you desire to be ethical, you live it by one standard across the board.” A few months later John Maxwell wrote a book entitled “There’s no such thing as Business Ethics”. In the book time is spent discussing what he learnt from one of his leadership mentors the ‘Golden Rule’ – this rule exists in many cultures their wordings maybe different but come to the same meaning. That rule for the Christian is: