Introduction

Starting Families Right

Start right; end right. This is the theme for our Godly Beginnings for the Family series. If we do things right from the beginning, then the quality of life is so much better. Many of us have not started out right. In each of those cases more time, energy and money is necessary to straighten out the mistakes. Once a piece of metal is bent, it cannot be perfectly restored to its original tension and shape. One example is the way I set up my file cabinet. Good start, good end; poor start, poor end Do I really want to improve the organization of my files after thousands of documents are stored away? Starting a family is similar.

Godly Beginnings for the Family (on the web) Starting Families Right	Handouts & Reading
Family Commitment Parents' attitudes greatly dictate whether their children will be godly or caught in the snares of the world.	Handout.pdf Reading.pdf Reading.doc
Click the CD to get these articles in printed format.
Family Planning & Birth Control God says much more about so-called family planning than the average Christian believes.	Handout.pdf Reading.pdf Reading.doc
Husband & Wife Roles Great families are those in which husband and wife embrace their responsibilities as defined in God's Word.	Handout.pdf Reading.pdf Reading.doc
God's Family Health Plan Once we start looking at the scriptures, we are astounded how much God speaks about our health. God really does care for us. We need only to obey.	Handout.pdf Reading.pdf Reading.doc
Preparations for Childbirth Childbirth is a miracle. Now if we would only stop interfering with God's ways our births would be better and easier.	Reading.pdf Reading.doc
Tender Newborn Care Care for the mother and child afterbirth is important. Detailed suggestions as well as routines are provided for both Mom and baby.	Handout.pdf Reading.pdf Reading.doc
The Challenge of Child Training Now that we have the child, how do we effectively train up a godly child? Start young!	Handout.pdf Reading.pdf Reading.doc
Disciplining and Training Small Children Come discover how to properly use discipline in the training of your young children.	Handout.pdf Reading.pdf Reading.doc
Setting up Godly Routines for Young Children Routines is our key to building training into a child's life. It works with one or ten children.	Handout.pdf Reading.pdf Reading.doc

If we start our marriage and raise our children correctly right from the beginning, then family life works out fairly smooth. Lack of good models and absence of biblical teaching prevent us from seeing the need for making certain decisions at the beginning. Some of our present parenting practices does not reflect the long-term results we wish to gain. Wisdom is the ability to make the right decisions that result in long-lasting benefits.

If we are able to discern the end result of an action or practice, then we can make the best decision.

“How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding. For its profit is better than the profit of silver, and its gain than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her.” (Proverbs 3:13-15)

God clearly states that wisdom is from Him. Wisdom is readily seen in the creation around us but is especially easy to find in His holy Word. Wisdom not only grants us a good start but also keeps us living by God’s design that maximizes the beauty of our lives.

The world is no longer family friendly. With a purpose to legitimatize their own selfish and immoral ways, the world informally and formally stands opposed to godly families. Here are a few of its manifestations.

Birth control/abortion
Children interfere with what I want to do with my life.
Desire for mobility
I want the freedom to do what I would like.
Entertainment mentality
I prefer having fun over working hard.
Materialism
I like having more money than spending it away on caring for children.

Christians are somewhat aware of these attitude trends, but rarely examine their own opinions, practices, or ways to see if they have been influenced by the world’s secular view point. Even if they do, they often pride themselves thinking their ways are better than God's own ways.

What is God’s own purpose for a Christian’s family? He wants to bring more and more people into His grand kingdom and share in His eternal rewards. He calls godly parents to raise up godly children so that this can be fulfilled. As parents we are to instill in our children the grand vision of God’s glorious holiness and love.

Future sessions will show how to practically carry this out with even the youngest babies! These issues radically shape our parenting practices and God’s goals for our families without us even knowing it.

The world’s thought system can easily penetrate our lives through our assumptions. An assumption is an idea that is believed to be true without proof. It bypasses our reason and is accepted as good or normal for our lives. These unquestioned assumptions are risky.

Assumptions are unproven thoughts accepted as facts. We would like to take this time to help you analyze your assumptions about these matters in light of God’s Word. These many issues^[1] lay a foundation for our future family life. The way we lay our family foundations will shape our own marriages and greatly influence the lives of our children.

Summary

Faithfulness in following God’s scriptural guidelines goes a long way in providing a beautiful model for the child to grow and learn. If couples do not start out right, then misunderstandings quickly develop between them. Bitterness is stored up and a wall of mistrust builds up. This leads to all sorts of hardships in the marriage that is transferred over to the children. By starting off right, our children can instead learn love, respect for authority, self-control and how to solve conflict.

Study Questions

1. Fill in the blanks. _________ right, ___________ end.

2. What is wisdom?

3. What is so dangerous about assumptions?

The BFF CD not only has all the accessory files from this series but all the ones that we have including powerpoints, word documents and pdf files great for printing.

Click to see what is on the CD or to order.

Notes

[1] There are many issues which have been radically influenced by the world system: stewardship of money and resources, place of ease and entertainment, honor of hard work, ethics, discipleship, family devotions, missions, etc.