The Joy of A Word Filled Family

It is clear that the family as an institution is in serious trouble. In the 1960s, popular society openly declared war on the historic ideals of home and family. Rebellion was suddenly canonized as a virtue; divorce was destigmatized; and the role of the stay-at-home mother began to be caricatured as mindless and menial. Since then, society has rapidly and recklessly adopted new values, educational philosophies, and even government regulations that are hostile to the family. The popular media (including movies, music, talk radio, television, and even the news media) have aggressively tried to normalize whatever is aberrant and celebrate whatever is dysfunctional in modern culture while demeaning the very notion of strong, close-knit families. Our society’s tolerance of abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and other evils have only further undermined the moral basis of family life. Naturally, families are rapidly disintegrating. This is a serious threat to all civilization, because the nuclear family (consisting of father, mother, and children) is the most basic social unit and therefore the very foundation of society itself. Destroy the bonds that hold families together, and the community at large unravels. It is happening before our very eyes. Of course, most church leaders and Christian lay people understand that the disintegration of the family is one of the greatest challenges the church faces in our generation. Scores of evangelical media ministries, Christian publishers, parachurch organizations, and parenting programs exist whose main purpose is to counteract the cultural trends that threaten the family. Some hope to solve the problem by political and legislative means. Others think the best way to influence the culture is through art, media, and education. Still others seem to believe careful training in parenting techniques is what moms and dads need most—methods of discipline, systems for teaching kids responsibility, and detailed child-rearing programs to help clueless parents. All those things are fine and helpful in proper measure. But in this insightful book, Dr. John Barnett reminds us that the best and most important way Christians should be seeking to counter the trends of a family-hostile society is by making the Word of God the center and the focus of our own family life. The most profound and lasting impact we can make on society starts with the strengthening of our own families, and the only lasting and effective way to do that is to give the Word of God its rightful place at the center of the family. After all, when God outlined His plan for the families of Israel, this was the whole gist of His design for parenting and home life. The Word of God was supposed to be central in every aspect of the family. It was meant to be the main subject of parental instruction and familial conversation during all times of work, travel, and leisure. The Word of God was even to be worn like jewelry and engraved on the doorposts of the house: "These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (DEUTERONOMY 6:6-9). Building a Word-centered family is therefore the very heart and soul of the responsibility God Himself has given parents, and it is a duty every parent should embrace gladly and eagerly. Dr. Barnett gives a careful and thorough explanation of what it means to have a Word-centered family and how parents can achieve that goal. He knows whereof he speaks. He and his wife Bonnie have been practicing these principles for some twenty years, raising a model family with eight children who now range from adulthood to adolescence. All of them are faithful to Christ, and they know and love His Word. As the title of this book suggests, raising a Word-centered family is a joy, not a drudgery. That is the way God designed it to be. "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord … Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them" (PSALM 127:3, 5). "The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise child will delight in him" (PROVERBS 23:24). For parents who are confounded and frustrated by the seemingly complex and often frustrating tasks related to leading a family, here is a much-needed resource that will help you clarify and simplify your priorities as a parent. May it be used of God to produce a generation of parents, and many generations of children whose lives and families are anchored in the Word of God, which is the only truth that lives and abides forever.

John MacArthur, Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California