According to a study of more than 500 family counselors, the following are the top traits of successful families:
*Communicating and listening *Affirming and supporting family members *Respecting one another *Developing a sense of trust *Sharing time and responsibility *Knowing right from wrong *Having family traditions *Sharing a religious core *Respecting privacy.
Psalm 68:6 (CEV)
6 You find families for those who are lonely.
Family is and has always been Gods idea. He relates to us as a father, the head of a family showing us that family is important to him. He finds families for those who are lonely. God is committed to those in Hi family and he expects the same for us who are in earthly families that we should stay committed to one another. The bible is filled with scriptures to help us define the different relationships we have in a family and how we should relate to one another.
Husbands and wife
• Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
• Proverbs 31:10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
• Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh
Fathers and mothers
• Colossians 3:21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
• Proverbs 31:28-30 Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Children and parents
• Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instructions and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
• Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord, your God is giving you.
God puts us in a family when are born on this earth. His perfect idea was for to people to commit to each other till death do they part, to love and respect each other and thus create an environment that is safe and filled with love where then children can be raised in. The parents then commit to raise these children up in the ways of God, to train then when they are young so that when they grow old they will not depart from Gods ways. The children are promised a long life if they will honor their father and mother.
All this points to commitment just the way God is committed to us not because we are good all the time, but because he loves us all the time and he remains good all the time.
Are you committed to your family? Are there relationships out of joint? Has there been a falling out?
Ask God for forgiveness and healing and work towards restoration because God loves families.
