The Fruitful Family

Family –November 2010 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Fruitful Family

“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the LORD.” Psalm 128:3-4 TNIV

While these verses refer primarily to the faithful remnant blessed by the Lord, they contain much practical instruction for our families as well, Notice first of all that the husband bears the responsibility for the well-being of his family. Husbands, your wife, your house, your children and your table will mirror your relationship with the Lord. “Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the L ORD .”

Then there is the wife. Since Isaiah prophesies (Isa. 5:1-2) that the fruitful vine of our Lord is Israel, then the wife will bring forth fruit for Christ “within your house.” This fruitfulness refers to the blessing achieved in the home through the right relationship between husband and wife: “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the Church” (Eph. 5:23).

At a time when society selfishly refers to children as a liability, and some couples choose instead to build a nest egg by both working, God’s Word, quoting wise King Solomon, reminds us that “children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from Him” (Ps. 127:3). How are children a heritage and a reward? If parents “bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4), they will mature into olive plants that exhibit Christ in the household as comforting shade, healthy food, and oil for light.

Do you believe the Bible, or the world which preaches just the opposite? “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (Jn. 13:17).

By Larry Ondrejack