Developing New Family Habits

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

─ Ephesians 6:4 NLT

Developing New Family Habits

Sarah slid into the backseat of her son’s car, next to her 10-month-old grandson sitting in his car seat. He loved trips in the car, now that he was big enough to face forward. Sarah smiled, thinking about the week she’d just spent with him.

Her son pulled out of the neighborhood and onto the city street, and then glanced into the rearview mirror, talking to his son. “Let’s pray,” he said.

Sarah had made it a habit from the time her boys were very small, that as soon as they got settled in the car, they prayed for safety and invited Jesus into their day. To learn he’d carried this prayer time forward, teaching the next generation, gave her overwhelming joy.

In our verse today, the words, bring up, are from the Greek words that mean “to nurture.” We are to nurture and train our children with His discipline and training. Often the best way to learn is to demonstrate the path to take, remain consistent and instill in your children God’s way by establishing habits and routines in our daily life that reflect who God is and how you can know Him more.

Today’s One Thing

Ask the Lord to show you something you can do each day with your children that would draw your family closer to Him. Perhaps establish a daily prayer time, where you pray blessings over your children and over your day.

Additional Reading

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