God’s Design for a Christian Family

The Christian family is divinely designed to fully develop followers of Christ. Although God works through nations and leaders, a family is a transcendent unit, ordained by God to do great things. 

Why Is a Christian Family So Important?

You can say your family is like a hospital or a trauma center. That’s the purpose of a family. When your family becomes a trauma center, everybody can be part of the healing process. It's a safe place.

What Is the Role of a Family?

Where do you go for shattered self-esteem? Where do you go when your fear is full-blown? When your hope is fractured? Where do you go when someone has bullied you online? Where do you go? 

Because if your home is not a trauma center, you can look for safety in some unhealthy places.

What Happens If Our Needs Aren’t Met at Home?

Some of us, if we’re not really getting our pain processed in the family, we'll go on achievement binges. Others may have an illicit relationship. Maybe you throw yourself into the lives of your kids. You might turn to pills or to a bottle. Maybe you sleep in the wrong bed as well. That's what happens when our family isn’t the safe place to return to for healing.

What Happens If Kids’ Needs Aren’t Met At Home?

Now if kids aren’t getting their needs met at home, it can get really scary—they can bottle up stuff, like their pain. 

And what's worse is it doesn't come out until their 20s and 30s. Often we meet people today who are dealing with stuff that goes all the way back to their family of origin. 

And the other times, what do kids do when they're not getting those needs met? If the home is not a safe environment? They'll turn to their peers, who'll give them answers to questions, but they're not always the most mature answers.

Your home, my home, is a trauma center. You might be asking, 'How do I make my home a trauma center? How can my Christian family be like a hospital for the wounded and hurting?’

4 Ways to Make Your Christian Family a Trauma Center

Here are four ways you can turn your family into a trauma center for those who are in need of healing. It comes by having: 

#1. Motivated staff

Mom and Dad, you're the staff. If you're a single parent, you're the staff. You are the staff and you're the chief physicians. If you understand your role, you can be motivated to fulfill God’s design for a healthy family.

The Bible states in Mark 2:17 (NIV), “'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”

In Galatians 6:2 (TLB), it says, “Share each other’s troubles and problems, and so obey our Lord’s command.”

Finally, Hebrews 3:13 (NIV) reads, “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.”

Parenting is the most difficult thing to do. Children need discipline and boundaries. They want love, but they also need to experience consequences. The Christian family provides them with the safety net they need to mature and thrive in this world.

#2. Educated approach

When you're educated, you can discern between drama and trauma. We know that our kids like to separate and dominate. Learning how to parent your kids is vital. We have more resources available today than ever before. Books, articles, and YouTube—it’s all available for us to learn.

Bedtimes can be a learning experience when the kids are small. Go into their room, just let them talk, ask some questions, and you won't believe what you'll hear. This is one way you can help them in this family hospital. Mealtimes are an opportunity to help our kids learn how to talk and converse as well. Ask questions and then listen.

When your Christian family becomes a trauma center, everybody can be a part of the healing process, even young children.

#3. Dedicated plan

What's God's plan for parenting? In case you’re wondering, the family is not a democracy. No, it’s designed to be a theocracy—God-led.

This is straight from Scripture. Parenting is the process of teaching (Deuteronomy 6) and training (Proverbs 22:6) your kids (Genesis 2:24) to leave. Spouses stay, kids leave. The Christian family is beautiful when we're doing it God's way. 

You can do it another way, and it might be okay, but we want to reach the ultimate pinnacle. We want to have the ultimate success, and that comes by doing it God's way.

If you have an injury or an illness, the doctor sends you home with a plan. It may be physical therapy, it could be a prescription, it could be a diet and exercise plan. It’s essentially a detailed plan to get you healthy. 

As believers, we have the Bible to guide us, which is God’s dedicated plan for a healthy Christian family.

#4. Christ-saturated system

Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

We have an opportunity to allow the church to assist us in making the home a trauma center. What entities really highlight and underscore family values—those transcendent values given to us by God? You might say our educational system. But by and large, I would say no. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, no. How about the government? Doubtful. How about arts and entertainment? Family issues, those transcendent values? Not really.

So that leaves the family pretty much alone with the church, which is the only institution that authentically highlights and underscores all of God's transcendent values in the Christian family, helping it become a trauma center for every member.

Follow God’s Design for Your Christian Family

Turn your Christian home into a trauma center for the weak and wounded, the hurting and the hopeless. Make it that way. Discuss it with your family. Create a dedicated plan. Follow God’s design for your Christian family. 

If you notice, the steps outlined above spell MEDS: motivated, educated, dedicated, and saturated. Take your meds and it'll serve you well.

Next Steps

If you’re among the sick and hurting, ask God to lead you to a Christian trauma center where your healing can begin. The Bible says God is the great Physician and He knows every part of your pain. Turn to Him today.

If you have questions, need prayer, or want to make a commitment to follow Jesus, reach out to us online or in person at Fellowship Church, where we believe the Lord is faithful to refresh, rehabilitate, and renew our homes, our families, and our hearts day by day.