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How to Encourage Faith in Families (Titus 2:1-10)
by Norman and Ann Bales
All About Families

Part Three: "How Attitudes Affect Families"

We face no more serious challenge than the undertaking of keeping our faith alive in our families. Sometimes we may say the right words, teach the right concepts properly annotated with book, chapter and verse only to shoot ourselves in the foot by inadvertently projecting poor attitudes.

Language is not our only communication medium. We often say more in non-verbal ways than we do with words. Your tone of voice, the position of your body, your facial expressions, the nature and the time of your smile may communicate either sarcasm, sincerity, acceptance or rejection. Furthermore, non-verbal communication is harder to fake than verbal communication.

When Paul addressed Titus regarding domestic circumstances on the island of Crete, he heavily emphasized the importance of attitude development

Areas Of Attitude Development.

• Reverence. (Titus 2:33) Reverence can be defined as "character befitting a person who is engaged in spiritual things." Some things aren't compatible with Christian deportment. There are some things that don't fit with a profession of the Christian faith. When our family members hear us profess godliness in the public assemblies and engage in ungodly behavior in the home, they do not regard us as reverent people. When we profess love for brothers and sisters at church and say nasty things about them around the dinner table, our family members notice the inconsistency.

• Submission. (Titus 2:5,9). We preach an inaccurate message when we teach that submission is a responsibility that applies only to Christian wives. Submission is an attitude that applies to everybody. (Eph. 5:21). We may well resist submissions because we think it indicates inferiority. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In 1 Peter 2:13-14, Peter taught Christians to submit themselves to government leaders (Roman emperors among others). Did the early day Christians regard themselves as inferior when they submitted to Roman tyrants? Of course not. When we practice submission in the home, we are honoring the example set by Jesus when he washed the feet of his disciples. Submission is an indicator of a servant heart. It has a power to impact the values of our family members like nothing else in the world.

• Seriousness. (Titus 2:7) By and large the people of Crete were not serious about the things that mattered most. They were known for lying and impurity. The Cretans had to know about things like accountability and the consequences of life's joy. That's not to say that Christian parents should never smile or enjoy fun experiences with their church. It can be demonstrated that play is wholesome and healthy. The author of Proverbs compared a merry heart to a medicine. What's needed is a sense of balance. A family leader is not a clown. Life is not a joke. Our demeanor needs to be an indicator of our seriousness.

• Kindness. (Titus 2:5). If we want to make the gospel attractive to our family members they must be able to see the milk of human kindness flowing from our lives. Christians need to be people with tender hearts. Some people seem to think that harshness is a way of measuring soundness, but not so. In another text, Paul wrote, "And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead he must be kind to everyone able to teach, not resentful" (2 Timothy 2:25). If we are mean spirited and project a demeanor of spitefulness and antagonism to our family members, it is unlikely that they will want to walk in our footsteps.