My Husband Is Joshua, I’m Eunice

In our household the responsibility for teaching our children about the Lord is shared, although there is no question about who has the primary job. My husband is out of town during the week, but home on the weekends. During the week you will find me leading the family devotions with the children, then sending them off to have personal devotion time while I have mine.

On the weekend, usually centered around a meal, my husband will pull out the Bible and begin teaching a particular concept. Our teaching styles are different. We don’t play off of each other or even teach the same thing. However, because the Bible is universal in its truths, invariably whatever I’ve been teaching dovetails into what my husband decides to share.

My husband does not dictate what I will specifically read to the children, mostly because we share enough with each other that he trusts in what I will teach. He also knows that if I have a question about something I will come to him for direction. But there is never a question about whether Bible reading will be done or not. He has established that his household will serve the Lord, and reading the Bible together as a family is a part of what we do to that end.

Mothers, if your husband is a lukewarm Christian, not a believer, or not present at all (you are a single mom), the responsibility for raising your children to the Lord falls to you. May I remind those of you with husbands, though, that there is nothing to be gained by going about it with spitefulness or an attitude. Do not think you can browbeat your husband and teach your children the love of God at the same time! The time you spend with your children is to be dedicated to God, no one else.

In the meantime, keep your husband prayerfully before the Lord and go about your task joyfully. God promises to bless those who obey His Word, and your obedience will not go unrewarded.

Our goal as Christian parents is to live in a house that the Lord builds. As Psalm 127 points out, unless the Lord is in it, whatever we do (including raising our children) we do in vain. If we view our children as a heritage from God, if we’re obedient to His Word in teaching them about Him, if we make Jesus foremost in the life of our family, then “they will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.”

Never forget the thousand generation promise God gave to us.

Related Articles:
A Eunice Kind Of a Mom, Part 2
Joshua And Eunice, The Series