The words marriage and family often stir our hearts. Memories of parents, siblings, love, safety, peace come to mind. Home is a place of sharing, loving, caring, knowing that it will be ok even if the day hasn’t been. But of course I’m talking about a healthy family. We must understand that healthy homes don’t just happen by chance. Christian principles must be taught as well as modeled. I remember praying with my parents at any given time. I remember my parents reading the Bible to me and encouraging me to read it for myself. I remember often seeing my mom in her chair asleep with her Bible in hand. I remember so many nights both my parents staying up late because they were working on Bible class material and it would be spread all over the den. We must return to an interest in getting our children out of the womb, into the home, into the church, and on their way to heaven. How do we do that? Some suggestions:
(1) PLACE GOD FIRST AND FOREMOST ABOVE ALL OTHERS. Today fewer people, even Christians do not acknowledge Divine authority. We are accountable to God, and that means as parents also. We must instill in our children that God and His kingdom come first.
(2) LOVE YOUR SPOUSE. No relationship on this earth is as important as husband and wife. Not job, not education, not investments, not friends, not even children. It is sacred and ordained by God and should be treated as such. McGill University concluded in their research that the greatest impact upon how our children turn out is their seeing the love, or lack of it, in their parents.
(3) BIBLICALLY NURTURE YOUR CHILDREN. God never gave the responsibility of raising children to the government, to the school system, to the day care, or even to the church. Our children’s spiritual, cultural, social, educational, financial and physical welfare lands on our shoulders as parents.
The home is the training ground where our children learn to live right and to love good things. May God bless our Tanner parents as they strive to have a Christian home.