Parenting by Design Daily Devotional and Devotions for Christian Parents

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Parenting by Design - May 10

Put God First

1 Cor 7:33-35:  "but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world … and his interests are divided... The woman … who is married is concerned about the things of the world, ... This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord" (NASU).

We want to focus on the thought behind this passage, rather than its more difficult teaching about the advisability of marriage.  Paul understood the tension a man or woman would face when they were married and had a family.  The nature of the responsibility was such that the parent's attention must be divided between the temporal family and God.  That is a tension we all live with.  The key is to keep the focus on the eternal, and to model that for the entire family.

We cannot shun our responsibilities as parents, but we can place our family in the correct position, behind God, in the hierarchy of our love and attention. 



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