Raising great families

Genesis 2:18 - 25

Amongst many things the creation story reminds us that God's plan for humanity includes relationships with other people, most particularly within the confines of a family relationship.  When families are acting the way God intends for them, they can offer the very best of relationships.  Families can offer their members deep love, unconditional acceptance, unswerving allegiance and absolute support.  But for this to be requires that each family member, at each stage of the family's life, needs to be intentionally acting to make the family great.  Three ways in which this can happen is through:

1. Spending quality time together and lots of it - families need to be around each other often, having fun times, sharing experiences, creating memories for the future.
2. Expressing love - where feelings and words are placed in action.  In Ephesian 5:21 Paul starts his household code by telling each family member to submit to each other.  Deep love in a family is found when each person humbles themselves before the other in love, service and honour.
3. Honouring God - great families are united in their allegiance to Jesus Christ, find their values shaped by scripture and share a common purpose and destiny.  In Ephesians 6:4 Paul reminds fathers that it is their responsibility to raise their children in the faith of Jesus Christ.

Whilst focusing attention on these three areas can help families be great, we also need to remember that not all families will be like this.  Sometimes families can be the source of our greatest hurts and sorrows.  Focusing on making our families great during the good times, can help in the hard times.  But we also need to remember that God is a God of reconciliation, and that through prayer, the ministry of Jesus and the hope for the future, that restoration will comes.

In our congregation there are already many families that do things that help make their families great.  What are some of the things that you do?