The Role of children in Christian Families

 

Edwin Monsy Varghese

 

There have always been articles about the role of parents in Christian families. But this topic is focused on the role of children in Christian families. There are a couple of things that need to be mentioned but let me just remind all the readers that I’m not only referring to the teens and the ages below them but its also for everyone to understand so that this could be applicable in our lives. Here are a couple of points that I feel is required in a Christian family and it can always start from our first steps: 

 

1.      Pray for your family everyday.

Give thanks to God always for the family he has blessed you with! If we truly love our families we would pray for them that the Lord would guide them. I noted this point because at times we take prayer for granted not realizing the true value of it. How many times have we actually stopped to think of the family God has blessed us with?

 

2.      Have love for the family in order to maintain a strong relationship with each of the family members.

If you think about any relationship, one of the main things that provide a strong foundation for it is love. If there are problems faced within the family then they would find it hard to co-operate with each other. So from the my perspective, I feel that its best that even if the parents or any of the family members are unwilling to co-operate we could still do our part by loving each and every member of our family so that there is a slight chance that the others would notice our behaviour and maybe even learn from it. We say that we are children of God and as we are His children we must inspire the others in the world through our behaviour. But how are we inspiring the people in our own homes?

 

 

3.      Attentive to correction

There are ways in which we can always leave an argument without it being a heated and pointless one. We could rationalize with them in order to understand clearly what they want us to do and then it is up to us to make that right decision, because whatever they teach, they teach from experience and maybe it may not seem right in our eyes but if it is beneficial then there is no harm in learning something new.

 

 

4.      Spending time with your family.

I find this extremely important because it’s only through this way everyone in the family gets to know each other better and have good times to recall after we become older. It helps build up the relationship in the family and I feel its our responsibility as children to remind them of having such times just for the sake of understanding each other more.

 

 

5.      Taking the responsibility.

Concerning responsibility, I mean, that we as children should convince our parents that we can take matters into our own hands allowing them to trust in us in whatever they want us to do. If we keep our part of the end the rest of the family members would feel peaceful and it would really lessen the burden for them to do extra work if we are willing to help.

 

 

6.      Obedience

    In Ephesians 6, the first verse itself states that children obey your parents. At times it feels difficult for us to obey because we find some things tempting but when God said “honour your father and mother,” He meant it. It’s best we consider their teachings as challenges and there is no need to accept directly without understanding the real meaning of it otherwise doubts would arise again. So frankly speaking I feel that if we are willing to accept what the other person has said then follow it else there are times when your forced to do it- in those situations, I’m sorry, but we just don’t have a choice.

 

 

7.      Try being “different”

This is not necessarily a Christian trait but I put this because many people at times generalize Christians as being serious and having no fun in life so I believe it best that every Christian family requires being joyous and livened up. We could try to make an attempt to turn around events so that not everyone’s day would be so bad. If everyone has a bad mood then the day wouldn’t end on a right note and it really doesn’t help strengthen any relationship in the family.

 

8.      Encouraging and helping

This is sort of similar to taking responsibility but in this case it’s helping parents or brothers or sisters in small ways, encouraging them by showing your support. When we see them down or tied with work, consult with them and ask if they need help. It’s always best that in whatever way we can make the family pleased we take it upon ourselves to do them, out of our own will.

 

 

To conclude, all that I mentioned above is not very easy and it doesn’t summarise everything one needs to be a Christian but we can always be creative and think up of any way to help out. I just stated these points because I feel its supposed to be seen in an ideal Christian family. Applying this is not only applicable to us individually but to the family and to everyone around us. Indirectly we are giving glory to God through our actions.