Have you ever been driving along a dark road and noticed a man/woman with his/her thumb stuck out? This person is commonly referred to as a hitchhiker. As a Christian you want to pick him/her up, but common sense and spiritual maturity says, “No!”

 

But let’s just say you did stop, what do you think this man/woman would say? He/she probably would ask you “Are you going my way?”

 

If you are like most people, you would probably say, “Get in.”

 

This is exactly what most of us do when choosing a mate. For some reason we don’t stop to think about that question, and we immediately agree to take this person on a journey to nowhere. We let this stranger that we don’t know into our car (life) and then we proceed to take them where they want to go, instead of finding out if they are heading in the same direction that we are.

 

Too often we make all sorts of detours for this person to ensure that they arrive at their destination, but we negate God’s prescribed course for us. They get into our cars (lives) knowing that they are going west, while we are going east. They tell us all kinds of sad stories and before we realize it, we have made a complete U-turn for them, and now we are headed backwards to our old ways, or farther away from our new lives. Then we lookup years later to realize that we are so far away from where we are supposed to be, and we wonder how we got there.

 

You were detoured, and now you are off course. It wasn’t intentional on your part, but the devil had a definite detour in mind for you. He wanted to get you away from the will and plan of God, so he deliberately sent a spiritual hitchhiker to distract and detour you away from God’s purpose for you. Now, God has to spend years undoing the damages that have occurred because you tried to help someone, who was sent to harm you.

 

We have to understand that we don’t pick up strangers on the side of the road, and we don’t allow a wayward man/woman to lead us astray. Too often most hitchhikers are running from something. It could be something they did wrong, or something wrong that was done to them; but either way, they are lost and fleeing hurt. Don’t let this person attach their hurt to you.

 

Just like a natural hitchhiker; a spiritual hitchhiker can do just as much harm to you if you are not careful. They come as angels of light presenting themselves as the answer to your problems, when they are in fact a bigger problem. Know how to discern spiritual hitchhikers, so that they won’t be able to infiltrate your family and establish another lost generation.

 

When God was teaching me about the values of family life, one of the most important lessons I learned was that a family is built, “one member at a time.”

 

I always looked back at my grandparents as the source of family construction, but God has revealed that the family begins with the man. Genesis 2:20-23 states, “But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

 

From the man He created the woman and together they created children, as the children begat children, grandparents were created. So, it is clear to see that the family is created by God, through the man, who He considers to be the head of the family. “Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3, NIV).

 

We see that God creates families one member at a time and He always begins with the man. This is a critical point in the building of families because we need to understand that God has a prescription for building Holy families and it is called, suitability. Suitability does not come from our view of who is good, but from God’s view of who is good.  First Corinthians 11:3 and Genesis 2:20-23, indicate His version of a suitable mate.

 

A man or woman is only considered a suitable mate when they are walking with God, not just speaking about Him. Not everyone that talks about God knows Him intimately. Some have heard of His greatness but have not intimately experienced it for themselves. They are still walking in darkness but attempting to emulate light. Beware of these spiritual hitchhikers who have been sent to detour you.

 

As Christians, we must stop picking up strangers off the side of the road and letting them lead us astray. These men/women that we think we are trying to help are not suitable mates. They have been placed in our paths to detour us, rob us of our blessings, and frustrate our purpose.

 

Be aware of who a suitable mate is, so that when your suitable mate approaches you, you will recognize him/her, and be equipped to partner with him/her in holy matrimony. Then you will be able to create a holy family that will bless God, your family, and others.