Daly Focus Blog
“He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
The New York Times ran an interesting opinion piece this weekend: “Raising a Moral Child.” It was a good piece filled with interesting advice. The principles the author gleaned from various studies easily translated into practical action items parentscould implement in their homes:
Praise the character behind the action.
Teach children to feel guilt, not shame, when they misbehave.
Model good behavior.
And yet, something felt… incomplete. Not with the article itself, mind you – but for us as believers.
A couple of months ago I blogged about marriage and joy. In that post, I encouraged Christian couples to live out a marriage that exemplified the goodness of God’s design by enjoying each other and having fun together. One sentence summed up the crux of that post:
“It does the culture and the Church a world of good when Christians mix joy and pleasure into the message of commitment and sacrifice in marriage.”
Today I want to introduce you to a husband and wife who can show us all a thing or two about applying that simple truth.
Toss a pebble into a lake, and the resulting ripple impacts the entire body. In the same way, you have the ability to positively influence your family by taking small steps that create big impact.
I know I’ve seen this principle in my own life.
My childhood story is not a pretty one. It involves divorce, death, and a lot of dysfunction.
I was only 5 when my father, who was an alcoholic, abandoned the family.
Do you ever feel spiritually stuck?
If so, you’re not alone. Research suggests that 80 percent of North American Christians spend three to four months of the year feeling disconnected from God. As a result, they might become frustrated with the church and they might stop growing in their faith.
If we’re being honest, we’d admit that this spiritual malaise can be an easy place to get to. We’re so easily distracted and overwhelmed by our technological gadgets and our busy lives that it’s all too easy to stop reading the Bible.
I’m not that old, but I can remember the days when young men and women who were interested in each other interacted in ways that were pretty low-tech compared to today’s standards. If a guy liked a girl but wasn’t able speak with her in person he picked up the phone and called her. If he couldn’t do that, he wrote her a letter. Remember those?
Today, though, many guys are relying on a communication tool that’s proving to have its downsides in the dating realm – the text message.
You have to see this new video. It’s a message from 15 people with Down syndrome to a pregnant mom who just received a prenatal diagnosis that the son she carries may have the condition.
In it, these young men and women assure the mom that her son can be happy… that he will be able to do many things… that he will be able to hug her and love her.
It’s a message that, unfortunately, many of these moms and dads reeling from this prenatal diagnosis don’t hear.
Can you be a parent without the hassle of a romantic relationship?
According to some people, you can – and should.
Modamily is a company that helps introduce people with no romantic interests or intentions for the purpose of raising a child together. It’s like a dating website, but instead of looking for love, users are looking for someone they can parent with. Proponents advocate it’s actually a better move for children, because it skips the “divorce nightmare.”
Modamily founder Ivan Fatovic explains: “All a child needs to develop and grow is attention, encouragement and love.
It’s one of the most well-known and well-loved Bible verses, the Gospel boiled down to a few words.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son… ” (John 3:16).
At the core of our faith we see a Father’s sacrifice, and we see the second person of the Trinity giving His life for us.
The video I’m sharing with you today echoes these themes. In it, the Vander Woude family shares the deeply moving story of how its patriarch, Thomas S.
Some weeks ago I shared three thoughts about submission in marriage. Today I want to expand a bit on the third point, “A husband’s authority over his wife is not absolute.” It read:
Just like the husband ultimately submits to God, a wife must make her ultimate allegiance to God, too. This means that whatever leadership her husband extends over the home is limited to what is God-pleasing and good. In other words, if a husband wants his wife to do something that is clearly immoral or unethical, the wife can echo the words of Peter in Acts 5:29 when he said, “We must obey God rather than men.”
So with this, we have certain bases covered: “leadership” does not equal dictatorship, and God is the ultimate authority in the Christian home.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
