Children should be able to see the Gospel modeled in the way their father loves their mother with a sacrificial love.
Interpretation
Fathers should demonstrate sacrificial love for their mothers to model the Gospel for their children.
This quote emphasizes the importance of parental relationships in the upbringing of children, particularly highlighting how a father's love for the mother serves as a practical example of the Gospel's teachings. When children witness selfless and sacrificial love in their family dynamics, they learn important values about love, commitment, and faith that are central to the Christian doctrine.
In practice
In a sermon discussing family values, one could use this quote to illustrate the impact of parental love on children's faith.
Despite the obvious emphasis of Scripture (in regard to suffering), we are bombarded by suggestions that the 'successful' Christian living takes place in the realm of constant victory, health, wholeness, and financial prosperity. In response to this we are not to pretend that suffering doesnβt exist or that it might be instantly cured. Such notions are the product of empty heads and closed Bibles.
Kids are a great analogy. You want your kids to grow up, and you don't want your kids to grow up. You want your kids to become independent of you, but it's also a parent's worst nightmare: That they won't need you. It's like the real tragedy of parenting.
Celebrate your family's bleakest moments and how your relatives overcame them. In doing so, you will encounter darkness, but you'll give your children the confidence that they, too, shall overcome.
Fatherhood is the best thing I ever did. It changes your perspective. You can write a book, you can make a movie, you can paint a painting, but having kids is really the most extraordinary thing I have taken on.
I would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give up my life for my children; but I wouldnt give myself. I can't make it more clear; it's only something I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.
Don't tell your kids you had an easy birth or they won't respect you. For years I used to wake up my daughter and say, 'Melissa you ripped me to shreds. Now go back to sleep.'.
I know how sobering and exhausting parenthood is. But the reality is that our children's future depends on us as parents. Because we know that the first years truly last forever.
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