Austin Wheeler

A word to fathers and young men. Public politics matters. How you govern your own home matters more. Fathers, God has charged you to bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4). One revolutionary thing you can do tonight is gather your family, open the Bible, and lead them in worship. Men, teaching your children about Christ begins with your own love for Him. Your kids already know a good deal about what you love. They hear what excites you and see what you make time for. What does the way you spend your time and money, and where you give your attention, teach them to love? Take God’s Word to heart and speak of our Lord to your children at home and along the road, when they lie down and when they get up (Deut 6:4–7). You cannot give your children new hearts. You can bring them the Word through which the Spirit draws them to Christ (Ezek 36:26–27; Rom 10:17). Teach them faithfully and trust God to give the growth (1 Cor 3:6–7). Set aside time each day for family worship. Ten to fifteen minutes is a good place to start. Read a short passage, explain its main point, pray together, and sing something you sang in church last Lord’s Day or another song your family knows (Col 3:16). Guard that time. On a hard day, read a few verses and pray. Live what you teach. When you sin against your wife or children, tell them openly what you did and ask them to forgive you (James 5:16). Don’t use family worship to show how much you know, settle an argument, or embarrass one of your children (Eph 6:4). If you’ve neglected family worship, confess it and begin again. Young men, if you grew up in a home where no one opened the Bible with you, you can learn now. Ask a faithful father in your church if you can join his family for worship one evening. What you learn at his table, you can one day teach at your own. Men, think of your grandchildren. Teach your sons and daughters to trust Christ. Show them how to open the Scriptures with their own children, so the next generation might also set its hope in God (Ps 78:5–7). Spurgeon asked, “How can we hope to see the Kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His Gospel to their own sons and daughters?”