Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV)

The family is fast becoming an endangered species. So how do we support the family? How can you be a success and prevent your family from being a mess? Here are five brief suggestions:

1. Love Jesus. First and foremost it must be all about Him. I firmly believe that the solution to every family problem is contained in one person – JESUS. Matthew 22:37 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (TEV). If it’s all about you then your selfishness becomes an immediate stumbling block to the success of the family unit.
2. Love each other. Felix Adler said, “The family is the school of duties . . . founded on love.” Most spouses don’t have a designated weekly “marriage time” in which they spend quality time with each other. Quality time is quantity time. Most parents spend less than 40 seconds per day in quality conversation with their children. Let the nation have good parents and she will have good children. Love is an action. Spend time talking, show acceptance and appreciation, establish mutual trust and unity, set a good example, be understanding, and look out for each others best interests. Romans 12:10 says, “Love each other . . . and take delight in honouring each other” (LB).
3. Establish God’s priorities. God’s chain of command for a successful family starts with Jesus Christ as the head of the home, with the wife and husband under His authority and the children in turn under their parent’s authority. Ephesians 5:21 says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (NIV). Ephesians 6:1-4 says, “Children, obey your parents . . . Honour your father and mother . . . Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (NIV).
4. Don’t commit adultery. Adultery destroys a marriage and is a sin against God and against your spouse (cf. Deuteronomy 5:18).
5. Do things together. Worship together, read the Bible together, take vacations together, enjoy one another, eat meals together, and attend church together. Nothing strengthens a family more. Someone once said, “The family altar would alter many a family.” And someone else reminds us: “The family that prays together stays together.”