Welcome back, friends. I wanted to share with you how things are going to be changing around here at 2 Lives 1 Flesh. I was starting to feel like the topics I was talking about surrounding marriage were getting a little repetitive and none of us have time for that. What I also found missing out on my own personal bible study time, was a focused and thorough exploration of different books of the bible. So I decided to do a monthly bible study where we will go through different books of the Bible and talk about what it looks like to grow in Christ and to grow in our marriages. I will try to always point things back to how a topic can affect your marriage. These will be longer studies than my weekly blogs, and they will be posted on the first Wednesday of every month, but I am hoping you guys will like them and get some good Bible knowledge in the process. Please let me know how you like things and if you have certain books you would like me to cover. I will be starting off with 1 Peter. I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks next week.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether you have children or not, the fact is they can either become one of the greatest unifying factors in your marriage, or they can make it the biggest area of conflict. For the people without children, many arguments come from when and how many to have, how to raise them, or why God has not allowed them to conceive yet. And these are just the arguments before children are even a reality. Then having children brings a whole new set of things to argue about. When children are born into this world, parents should ask themselves a few key questions. First, what are our goals for this child? Second, what are our responsibilities for this child? Third, how should we raise this child? Thankfully we have the answer to all these questions found in our bibles. God, the greatest father of all, tells us exactly how to raise our children, and what is important to Him. One of the most comprehensive verses on raising children comes to us from Ephesians 6:4, Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Teach them about God, and discipline them as God instructs. Easy enough right?…
We don’t get very far into the Old Testament before we find instructions for children. “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you. Exodus 20:12. This commandment is number five on the list right after how we honor and worship God, so I think it’s safe to say, this is a pretty important one in God’s eyes. Also, notice that God instructs children to honor your father AND mother. He wants the mothers to be respected as well because children are typically with their mothers more than their fathers. At the end of the day, mothers typically have more opportunities to influence and instruct their children. Think about some Godly mothers of the bible. Hannah had a direct influence on the life of Samuel. What about the influence of Lois and Eunice in the life of Timothy? Even though mothers play a big role in the raising and influencing of the children, this does not give fathers to right to transfer authority to the wife. As we see in 1 Timothy, husbands and fathers play a critical role within the family dynamics. The husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching, not overindulging in wine, not a bully, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. 1 Timothy 3:2-4. When we become parents, we take on a huge responsibility to our children and to God. This job can’t be satisfied by only one parent, but rather both need to be active participants. So take your job seriously and turn to the Lord for guidance.
2 Lives, 1 Flesh 
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