All throughout scripture, God always puts heavy emphasis on the home and family. He often worked and brought His purposes through family. He blessed not just one man but the whole family and gives commands to preserve not just the individual or the church but even the family.
The family is the basic unity of society not because society says so but because God says so. And because family matters to God, He longs to be present and for Jesus to be the centre of each and every home.
We all know this, but how can we allow Jesus to take centre stage in the times that our families have together at home, on vacations, when going out and every opportunity we get to be together? Here are five ways we can do that.
1. Pray Together and for Each Other
The signature of Christ-centredness is faith in Him, and faith in Christ always manifests in faithful prayer. As parents, we can and should encourage our kids to pray for each other and for you as parents as well. This gives us the avenue to mediate between God and the family and for them to grow in their dependence towards God.
2. Use Trials to Inject Biblical Truth to Circumstances
When our kids have a hard time at school, get into fights with friends or feel lost in life, we can use these hard times to inject biblical truth about God's sovereignty and power into our children. The same goes true for husbands and wives. The best person to remind a spouse of God's promises is her husband or his wife.
3. Practice Generosity
There's no one more generous than Jesus Christ, who willingly offered all that He had for undeserving people like us. To walk in generosity is to walk in Christ's heart and to mirror His character to our family. If we are called to be generous to others, how much more to our own family members?
4. Be Completely Present
In a day and age when homes and family times are quickly invaded by distractions such as social media, amusement and entertainment, there is a struggle to be completely present. But God is most honoured when we give premium to relationships and give each other full and undivided attention because we reflect God's value for relationship and communication.
5. Give Room for Grace
I know how hard it is to act in grace when speaking truth at times, but that's what Jesus would do. According to our own abilities and ways, grace will often be absent, but when we truly walk in the Spirit and in God's wisdom, grace will naturally come and manifest itself when we deal with family members.
