God designed the family. In Genesis 2, God created the first marriage. That first husband and wife became the first human father and mother to the first children, and the first family with parents and children came into being. God’s design for the family helps humans understand our relationship with God. The family should, in many ways, mirror the images of our spiritual relationship to God. When that happens, our family, and every person connected to it, benefits. Consider three principles God has given concerning the family:
Serve each other (Eph. 5:21ff). Willing servitude to those in our family motivated by our relationship with God is one of the pillars of God’s design for the family. Wives who follow the loving leadership of their husbands create a mirror image of Christ and the church for their children to see and grow to understand and appreciate. Children who obey compassionate and caring parents will find that they are served well by the instructions they are receiving from the same. God is pleased when each member of a family extends the care He has given to every other member of that family.
Give clear instructions (Eph. 6:1ff). Children who have rules, expectations, and consequences communicated and maintained will find greater peace in life than those whose homes are filled with chaos fueled by constantly changing standards. Parents who give clear instructions place their children in the advantageous position of understanding what they must do to please their father and mother. Through this type of relationship with their physical parents, the children will grow to appreciate the unchanging standard of their Heavenly Father and will know how to please Him.
Show compassion (Mk. 7:9-13; 1 Tim. 5:4, 8). Parents who sow seeds of compassion in their children by genuinely caring about others will reap the harvest of their children’s care for them in their later years. A child who cares for their elderly mother or father is doing what is pleasing in the sight of God and is displaying a Christlike spirit to those who witness their behavior.
Let us all consider the pattern of God for the family and do our part in shaping our families to match God’s design. God bless you in your efforts!