Family Priorities
God did an incredible thing by defining the family structure and the roles that each person plays in it. He did this for two main reasons… first, to help us understand spiritual priorities better and, second, to help us have a great life as a family unit. Understanding family priorities is an easy thing to grasp, and when you do, it will allow God’s blessings to flow freely through his divine order of authority.
We read in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 that God should take absolute priority in our lives and in our family. If we don’t have this first requirement in place, the rest will never provide the fulfillment it’s intended to. We’ve got to get God in first place.Next, if you have no children and aren’t married, Colossians 3:20 tells us that our parents come next. “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” If you do have children, they come first, and then your parents.
Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 that when a person becomes married, they have an obligation to their spouse. 1 Peter 3 details how important it is for a wife and husband to treat each other with love and honor.
Next, come the children. A passage that may be familiar to you is Proverbs 22:6, which states that parents should “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. Ephesians 6:4 also instructs us to raise our children properly, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
After your children come your parents. Ephesians 6 also speaks of how children are to treat their parents. As long as we are the child of a parent, we are to obey and honor them.
After these, we must place the rest of our family, fellow believers, and then the rest of the world (Matthew 28:19).
When we have arranged all the pieces in the proper order, God’s blessings can flow through those channels without hinderance. I wonder where your priorities are, and if they are aiding or blocking God’s blessings in your life?
