Family
Devotions:
Should
Fathers Lead Family Devotions?
Copyright 2011 by Lauretta Marigny - All rights reserved
I did some looking to see what advice there is online for how to do family devotions. Since doing devotions is a Christian discipline I assume all the sources are written by Christians. On one site a woman suggests that Christian women stop complaining because their husbands won’t do it, instead they should feel blessed that their husbands have entrusted the spiritual instruction of their children to them. On another site a gentleman suggests that when the father isn’t there to lead family devotions, everyone should just do personal devotions.
Scripture doesn’t clearly state how family devotions should be done, but the most quoted text in reference to the subject is Eph 6:4: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” I’ve always concentrated on the “Fathers, do not exasperate your children” part, but if one leaves that first command out of the sentence it reads, “Fathers…bring (your children) up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
Dads are encouraged to be actively involved in the spiritual training of their children. When there is not a father in the home, or the father is not a Christian, I believe that responsibility falls on the mother. To give evidence for that I quote a scripture from First Timothy. In verse 5 Paul says to Timothy, “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” The faith seems to have been transferred from a godly grandmother and mother; no father figure is mentioned.
Some of the excuses fathers have for not doing family devotions are as follows:
1. I don’t know what to do.
2. We’re too busy; we don’t have time.
3. Our children are too many different ages.
4. My wife knows more about the Bible than I do.
5. I tried it once and everyone in the family hated it. (An example of this was given by a speaker at a minister's conference in the Philippines, "Sometimes, especially when family worship is not properly done, the children, and maybe even the wife, begin to dread it." (1))
The following are some helps to getting Dad over these objections:
1. I don’t know what to do. Here is a simple formula for conducting devotions. It is a shortened version of “How to Conduct Family Devotions” from the book Family Devotions.
Christian devotions should consist of worship, instruction and prayer.
Worship is the first part of family devotions. Sing a Christian song with your children. You can sing along with a favorite worship CD or sing a song out of a hymnal.
The second part of family devotions is instruction. After the song, the father could read a short portion of scripture. Keep it to about 5 minutes.
The final part of family devotions is prayer. Prayer may be about something that relates to the devotion or anything that is on someone’s heart. Each member of the family should be encouraged to pray aloud.
By following this routine you will be incorporating worship, instruction and prayer in your daily family devotions.
2. We’re too busy; we don’t have time. If things go smoothly, devotions should take about 10 minutes.
3. Our children are too many different ages. Target the older children as they have the least amount of time remaining in your home. (Someone has suggested that the fathers do the instruction with the older children while the mother teaches the younger.) The song and prayer could be done as a family.
4. My wife knows more about the Bible than I do. What an asset! She can help in choosing the Scripture reading.
5. I tried it once and everyone in the family hated it. Choose songs you know your children like and choose interesting stories from Scripture. Don’t give up; perseverance is a virtue.
(1) http://www.gracechapelpbchurch.org/family_and_worship.htm
