CORE VALUES FOR CHRISTIAN
FAMILIES
Many of us attend church, at least once in
a while, and we sometimes read the Bible, but how can we be
sure that our family is grounded in the fundamentals of Christianity?
One way is to dedicate ourselves to a plan of study that involves
the whole family. Why the whole family? Listen:
Deuteronomy 11:18-21 NKJV
… you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and
in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they
shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach
them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your
house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when
you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of
your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days
of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the
LORD swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the
heavens above the earth. NKJV
God, speaking through Moses, has commanded
us to "teach His words" to our children. The task
is far too important than to leave such teaching to others.
One of the great advantages of learning God's word, as a family,
is that assures you that your beliefs and understandings are
"mutual."
I suspect that it is difficult, with all of
the "agenda" that is coming at family members, to
spend time together discussing the core values of Christianity.
Yet, is anything more important? No, nothing is more important
than knowing that every member of the family is seeking to do
as Jesus commanded:
Matt 22:37-39 NKJV
37 "'You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind.'
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.'
The purpose of these Family Bible Studies is
to provide a format for getting each family member to discuss
the scriptural topics at hand and to both learn and share mutual
commitments. Since some of the concepts are more difficult to
understand than others, fathers and mothers will have to assist
in explaining what they mean and will, at times, need to restate
the core value in words the children will understand.
These Studies are intentionally "substantive",
that is, they will lead you into the meat of the word as opposed
to dwelling on the milk of the word. Listen:
Hebrews 5:12-14 NKJV
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers,
you need some one to teach you again the first principles of
God's word. You need milk, not solid food;
13 for every one who lives on milk is
unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child.
14 But solid food is for the mature,
for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish
good from evil.
Establish a specific day and time for your
Family Bible Study and be sure to begin the study with prayer.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. May God abundantly
bless your family as you learn "eternal" values.
