This is another post by Tad which was originally published in our church’s monthly newsletter. You can read his first post on family devotions here. Enjoy!
Last month I wrote about the importance of family devotions. This often neglected Christian tradition is of vital importance to both families and the church as a whole. The family was designed by God to be the primary vehicle for passing on the faith from generation to generation.
This month I would like to continue to discuss family devotions. I want to answer the question, “Who should be leading family devotions?” and “What should family devotions entail?” The first question is,“Who should be leading family devotions?” I believe that Ephesians 6:4 answers this question: “Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Word.” This command is very specific, wherein it addresses fathers and commands them to raise their children in the faith.
Fathers are to teach their children from the Bible what they are to believe and how they are to act. This passage does not say “Fathers, it might be a good idea if you did not provoke your children to wrath, and if you really want to you should raise them in the discipline and instruction of the Word.” No, this passage is a command to fathers to be teaching their children the truth of God’s Word. One of the best ways to visualize how this leadership should play out is to think of the father of a household as the pastor of his house, spiritually leading his family through life.
This brings us to the second question, “What should family devotions entail? There are three main things that family devotions should include. The first is the Bible. Family devotions should include reading from the Bible, or if your children are really young, the reading of a Bible story book. If the Bible is not read, then how can you expect your children to take seriously the importance of God’s Word? We read the Bible because that is how God has chosen to speak to us, and we desire to impart God’s instruction to our families.
The second thing family devotions should include is prayer. While reading the Bible is how God speaks to us, prayer is how we speak to God. By praying together as a family, we will be modeling our dependence on God for all things.
The third element is worship. We should worship God through singing as a family. If we relegate such worship through singing to only doing it on Sundays, we are failing to teach our children how worthy God is of such worship. We should live lives of continual worship to God, and this should come out through singing songs of worship to him in family devotions.
Once again I challenge to have devotions together as a family. I challenge you to read the Bible together, to pray together, and to worship God together through singing.
Great post, Tad. But what do I do if my husband won’t lead in this way? Would it be wrong for me to do devos with my kids?
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@StaceyStacey,
It is of course not wrong for a mother to have devotions with her children. In fact this might be a great idea even if family devotions are already being done by the father. It never hurts to have more biblical instruction. On the other hand, the best thing I can say to you is encourage your husband. Make sure that he understands that he is the one who should be leading in this area and that you are willing to submit to his leadership when he starts leading in this area. Honestly, many men do not realize they are supposed to do this, so talking with him and suggesting or asking for him to do it would not be inappropriate. A good book on the father’s role in the family is Mark Driscoll’s Pastor Dad. It is downloadable for free as a pdf( http://www.theresurgence.com/files/2011/03/02/relit_ebook_pastordad.pdf) Chapter 6 is especially helpful for the father’s instruction of his children.
I struggle with the balance between encouraging and nagging. I’m going to look into those books though, and maybe we can get this worked out!