Why Understanding Family Roles Matters
By Chris Denning
No matter your experience within a family, whether good or bad, you understand that there are roles within the family. However, your experience certainly colors your perspective of what those roles look like and entail.
In the series we’re starting this weekend, Ideal Family, we’re going to be talking about God’s ideal for the family and what that means for each member of the family.
While there is no picture perfect prescription for what a Father, Mother, Child, etc, should be like in a family, there are certain ideals that we can strive for in these roles. And if God created the family (and He did), then only He can define the ideals for these roles.
This begs the question: Why do these family roles, or ideals for these family roles, matter? Here’s 2 reasons why these family roles matter, and why understanding them for yourself should matter too.
1. They Help Us GROW.
If someone asked you to draw them a good picture, and that it better be what they’re looking for, then you’re in a pretty tough situation. How could you possibly know what they are looking for, or even what “good” means? However, if they asked you to draw them a picture of the Grand Canyon and provided you a picture to base it on, then you’d be on the right track (as long as you don’t draw like me).
God’s ideals for these family roles give us the picture we need to to discern what direction we need to grow in. Without knowing God’s ideals, we don’t have direction for our roles in the family. Knowing God’s ideals for Fathers, Mothers, Husbands, Wives, and even Children gives us a clear picture of what we need to grow into.
2. They Help Us LOVE.
Understanding God’s ideals for family roles not only helps us to understand how we need to grow, but it also helps us understand how to love others in our family even better. By understanding God’s ideals for these roles, we can better understand their motivations and actions, even when we don’t agree with them.
The better we can understand the role of a family member, the better we can love them through tough times and even tough decisions. When a child understands why a Mother makes a decision they don’t like, it makes it easier for them to love them. Understanding God’s ideal for the family helps to provide clarity when things are unclear. That clarity can help us love one another better in times of uncertainty.
I hope you’ll join us for Ideal Family, because no matter your history with your family or what life is like now with your family, understanding God’s ideals for the family will help you be a better member of your family.
While your family may not be perfect, God still has hope for what it could be. Join us and see what God says about the roles of the family and his ideals for them. It just might change your family tree!