I am working on the notes for our Sunday evening parenting class. The subject this week is — marriage and parenting.
These are a couple of wonderful paragraphs from William Farley’s book.
I cannot imagine a mother or father/ husband or wife who would not have to say “Ouch!” after reading them. I hope they don’t hurt too much…
The message that our marriage preaches either repels or attracts our children. God wants your child to watch your marriage and think, “I want a marriage like that, and I want the God that produced it.” Or, “When I think of the beauty of the gospel, I think of my parents’ marriage. I want to be part of a church that is loved by God the way my dad loves my mother. I want to be part of a church that finds its joy in submitting to Christ as my mother joyfully submits to my father.”
But when a husband is unfaithful to his wife, verbally belittles her, loves his children more than her, or takes her for granted, his marriage says, “Christ’s love is not that great. He loves us only when we perform. You can’t trust this Savior. You can’t meet his expectations. He doesn’t keep his promises. Why serve a fickle despot?” His deeds say, “Many things can separate us from the love of Christ.”
But when a wife tells her children to obey Christ, yet doesn’t trust him enough to take care of her relationship with an imperfect husband, but seeks to control him, resists his authority, refuses to respect him, and declines to serve him, her actions speak loudly. They say, “The Son of God cannot be trusted. He promises to exalt the humble, but I don’t believe he will exalt me. He says he will take care of those who submit to lawful authority, but I don’t really believe that. If I don’t take care of myself, who will?” In most cases her children will internalize what she does, not what she says.
Like I said… Ouch!
What is my marriage saying about the gospel? Is the love of Christ vibrantly displayed in me?