6 Simple Ways to Witness to be a Witness in Your Home
My dad is more than my dad. He’s the person I admire the most in my life. He’s taught me many things, such as how to check my car’s oil and how to be a good person. But, the most important thing he’s taught me is how to be a witness for my family and share God with others. My dad is the senior pastor for the La Roca and North Valley Spanish Seventh-day Adventist churches. He also serves as the Texico Conference family ministries director. I sat down with him recently to discuss six tips for being a witness for your family.
Respect Others.
When you respect God, you can respect anyone. Showing respect demonstrates to your family a good value, and it’s something that we have to do daily. Respect for your spouse and yes, respect for your children, even while they are very young. In a family, challenges will arise. Even if a family member is wrong or critical, I have to show that I have to respect them and treat them the best way I can.
Have Personal Devotion.
Personal devotion with God is vital for your spiritual walk, but it can also be a way to minister to your own family. When you read your Bible and have your devotion, your family will see that you have carved out time to spend time with God and pray to God. They won’t have to ask you because they will know how important it is to read the Bible, be in conversation with God, pray and go to church through you.
Teach by Example.
As a pastor, you can’t preach something that you are not actively doing in your own home. But this is also true as any leader or even church member. In Deuteronomy 6, God directs Moses to teach the people of Israel to fear the Lord by keeping His decrees so that they may enjoy a long life. One of the best ways we can show God to our families is to lead by example by having daily prayer, devotion, kindness to others and showing them love.
Offer Forgiveness.
One of the most special Bible teachings is found in Matthew 6:12, when Jesus’s disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, and in His marvelous prayer. Jesus says “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” When you are hurt, it is hard to acknowledge someone’s actions as a mistake. This makes it important for us to forgive others just as God has forgiven us. One way for us to be a witness to our families is not only to forgive them, but also ask for forgiveness. In my experience, I’ve been challenged to forgive when my heart has been broken. Perhaps that has been your experience as well. In our families, we need to give the person who has wronged us a chance to recognize their own mistake and show them God loves them and forgives them. That’s when you can give your spouse, children, friends and maybe even yourself, a second chance to return to God.
Dedicate Quality Time.
It’s about more than just the quantity of time. It’s about spending quality time with your family and showing them they are important to you. We can tell our family they are important to us, but if we put them at the end of the list because we are so busy with our jobs or responsibilities then we are not being honest. I remember when Saul and his sister were young, and how they would light up when they would see me wearing jeans and a t-shirt instead of my suit and tie. They would get excited because this meant that we were going to spend family time together. There are billions of people in this world, but God cares individually about all of us. The best way to show that is by spending quality time with our families.
Be a True Friend.
The core of the great commission in Matthew 28 is rooted in Matthew 22:3-40 where Jesus instructs us, as disciples of Christ, to love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. Heaven revealed how it gave everything to us by sending Jesus to die on the cross, so how can I translate that to my family? It’s by giving yourself to your family and being a friend to those who are in need. Use the blessings God has given you to pour into your family, to build up the relationships inside and outside your home.
By Saul Flores
Texico Conference Family Ministries Director, and Saul A. Flores, Record Freelance Writer
