How is Your Home Life?

In America, for the most part, we have drastically removed ourselves from the commandments stated in Ephesians. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:1-4). Our society has turned against corporal punishment and, in most cases, discipline in general. Spanking a child is now referred to as hitting a child. “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly” (Prov. 13:24). This verse is often looked at as abuse. In other cases, the commandment to discipline a child is overreacted to, leading to the mistreatment of the child. It seems as if the pendulum swings either too far to the left or the right and won't come to a rest in the middle.

 Prov. 22:16 reads, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." It is hard to train a child properly when he is living in a single-parent home. When a child doesn't receive the nurture of the father and the mother, life can become difficult. Sometimes this reality is out of our hands, but more often than not, it is the result of selfishness on the part of the parent. We cannot train a child if we are not part of their lives. 

To go beyond that point, how does the presence of a father and a mother in the home influence a child? In Deut. 6:6-9 Moses admonished the Israelites to teach the commandments of God to their children. This teaching was to be perpetual in nature. They were to teach them morning, evening, and throughout the day. This would lead to the word of God dwelling within them. At times, children learn much from their parents, but not so much the word of God.

 The average adult spends almost 32 hours a week on their cell phone, while the average teenager spends close to 80 hours a week on a cell phone. It seems as if the family is connected to everything but each other. It is no wonder that so many families struggle for unity. These are issues that desperately need to be addressed. 

We need to invest in our children. We need to train them to be productive citizens and not a burden on society. Most of all, we need to teach them the word of God and the importance of submitting to authority. A lot of our issues in America would be resolved if we would take a biblical approach to structuring our homes.

Brad Burkett

West End church of Christ • April 20, 2025