Making Your House a Home

O

ne of my life’s dreams, like that of most people, was to own my own home. My goal, however, was to build it myself. From early childhood I loved to make things. In earlier years I worked as a builder, so my goal was realistic. Even though it took several years to complete, building my own home was an exciting project.

Every part of that home had my heart in it. Even the bricks in the fireplace I handpicked from the special kiln in which they were baked. Every tree and shrub was tended with great care to enhance our dwelling with nature’s own beauty. I spent a long time planning that home as I intended to live in it for life.

However, one thing I learned after moving into my dream home was that a house can never bring health or happiness, nor can it make a home. Only people can do that.

Today’s houses may be the most advanced ever, but our homes and families are breaking down at a greater rate than ever before.

Part of the reason for this breakdown is that for centuries men grew up accepting the role of breadwinner while women were expected to become wife, mother and homemaker. But that has all changed, Today’s women, especially those in their twenties and thirties, are the best trained and educated ever. Two out of three are working outside the home. Many are taking positions of leadership in the community, business and professional world.

One effect of this radical change, and perhaps central to the increased breakdown of the family, is the confusion of roles of both men and women. Plus, there are no role models to follow. The end result is that those under thirty are four times more likely to be divorced than were their parents. In the not too distant future many more heads of households will be either divorced, single or widowed due to the aging population

Today’s women in their twenties
and thirties are the best
trained and educated ever.

The family is at the very heart of our society. It is the foundation upon which the personality, self-concept, sexual identity, and maturity of every child is built and developed. Its value is critical to the health and strength of the nation. When its foundation crumbles, eventually the nation will.

As former President Ronald Reagan once said, "The family is the oldest and most reliable unit in society. It is divinely created and sustained. It is the only institution in all of human experience capable of producing responsible citizens."

To save and strengthen the home and family, we need to go back to the principles upon which it was founded. As it was instituted by God, the fundamental principles are found in his Word, the Bible.

Equality of the sexes. In God’s order it is important to realize that while both sexes are different (thank God for his creative touch), both are equal. Neither is better than the other. Both haves roles of equal importance. At the beginning God said that a man is to "leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."¹ One flesh" implies equality. The Apostle Paul speaks of male and female interdependence and equality,² and the Apostle Peter describes men and women as "joint-heirs of the grace of life."³

The role of parents. One of the major roles of both parents in God’s plan is that they not only provide their family’s physical needs but also discipline and train their children in every area of life–physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.⁴

The role of man. According to the Bible, the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man.⁵ Because this is often a misunderstood and touchy point, what does it mean for the man to be the head?

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