In my previous post, I tackled three reasons why we need to be families of the Word. In this post, I want to explore how to be a family of the Word— or what a family of the Word looks like.

I believe there are both attitudes and actions that characterize an individual, couple, or family that treasures God’s Word. 

Attitudes

Consider whether these attitudes characterize you as you approach the Bible:

Humility

Humility says, “We can’t do life on our own. We’re not capable of making things work or fixing them by ourselves.” 

It’s impossible to read God’s Word rightly or evaluate ourselves clearly without humility. Think of the tax collector in Luke 18— 

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”

The passage says that Jesus told this parable to some people who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt. Their lack of humility kept them from understanding what Jesus said. 

Do you approach the Bible with humility?

Trust

You can trust in yourself or you can trust in God. When we choose to trust God, we reject self-confidence and self-reliance and trade them in for a much surer foundation.

God doesn’t ask us to blindly trust Him— in fact, He reveals himself to us through the Bible and through creation so that we can know He is trustworthy. If you’re not sure the Bible can be trusted, dig into the evidence. It’s perhaps the most important thing you can do because you can’t build anything lasting without a sure foundation.

Once we’ve decided to trust God and His Word, it becomes the basis for everything else. This kind of trust doesn’t depend on needing to completely understand everything all the time. You don’t need to feel “blessed” or “at peace” all the time, either. Instead, you can know you are blessed even when it doesn’t feel like it. You can have peace in the midst of trial by remembering that God is trustworthy.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).

Do you approach the Bible with trust?

Love

Our hearts should cry out with David’s— “How I love your law!” (Ps. 119:97).

We know that in this life, we don’t love what we should love half as well as we should love it. We’re fallen creatures, waiting in eager anticipation for God to complete his work in giving us new hearts. 

So we all feel that we could love God’s Word more. But would you say that in your home, there is a general love and delight in the Word of God? 

If the genuine, spontaneous affection isn’t there, do you fight to experience it? Do you fill your home and time with that which will stir up your affections for the Word?

“His delight is in the law of the Lord” (Ps. 1:2).

Do you approach the Bible with love?

Do you fill your home and time with that which will stir up your affections for the Word?

Actions

There are also actions or behaviors that should characterize a Christian family if they are truly a family of the Word. 

It’s always dangerous when we start to make a list of things people should do. Every family is different in personality, schedules, lifestyle, ideal learning style, and many other areas. 

While these actions generally characterize a healthy Word-centered family, the frequency and methods will vary widely— and that’s okay! The point is this: hearts that really understand their need to treasure God’s Word will find ways to be exposed to it.

Personal Bible reading

Dad, Mom, and kids with the ability to read should always be developing and encouraging this habit. Just like you need breakfast, lunch and supper, you need to read the Bible daily. 

Family devotional time

Be it every day or a few times a week, the whole family needs to gather around the Word. Through this practice, Dad and Mom show their kids how important they think God’s Word is for their lives. 

Listening attentively to the Sunday sermon

Notice I didn’t say “faithful church attendance,” although I think that’s huge. Attending church doesn’t necessarily mean you are a family of the Word. But when Mom and Dad do everything in their power to sit and listen all the way through a sermon, and train their kids to do the same from a young age, they teach by example that God’s Word is more valuable than diamonds.

Model these attitudes and implement careful habits

Besides those three essential activities, some other things that generally characterize families of the Word might be: passage memorization, family Bible studies, singing hymns together, and reviewing the Sunday sermon together. 

Occasional church attendance and a morning verse and/or prayer are not enough to make a truly Word-centered family. If we want to understand ourselves, know God for who He is, and grow in wisdom, we must approach God’s Word with humility, trust and delight. Our children need to see these attitudes modeled for them, and then we should implement careful daily and weekly habits based on what we know to be true. 

God and His Word are completely reliable and provide us with all the wisdom we need to be families that honor Him.