Top ten things for a (young) married man to do:

Top ten things for a (young) married man to do:

1. Be Faithful to the Lord. This includes taking your whole family to church, being involved in Bible study, tithing, and living out what you say you believe. Read the Word and pray on your own. Pray for and with your wife.
2. Be faithful to your wife. Be faithful not only physically but emotionally. Don’t let another relationship take the place of your friendship with your wife. Be faithful with your eyes. Don’t let them wander to things that will cause you to stumble. Look away from the billboards that show too much, change the channel from commercials that are too revealing.
3. Work and provide for your family. Try to earn enough that would enable your wife to stay home and raise a family or do volunteer work in the community or church. Sometimes this is very difficult, even impossible, but it’s always good to have a plan on how you would make ends meet if your wife quits working.
4. Help around the house. Help with the kids, the laundry, the dishes, etc. Both you and your wife need some downtime. Have yours, but give your wife hers. There may be some things you are not good at doing, communicate with your wife on which things you are both best at and trade responsibilities. Something like, “I’ll always take care of your car if you will always take care of the ironing and gardening.”
5. Always discuss major decisions. Agree with your wife what major decisions are. Expenditures over 40 dollars? Job decisions? New child discipline tactics? Do not just say, this is what I am going to do, say “What do you think about this?”
6. Invest for the future. I was tempted to make this number one. It is never to late OR TOO EARLY to start. If there is one thing I wish I had in my early married life it would be someone to sit me down and say, “start a retirement account.” It doesn’t have to be much. $25 a week or $100 a month is a good place to start. Do that for 40 years and you have a good retirement nest-egg. Do not be a burden to your children any more than you have to. No, you don’t know when Jesus is coming back. And No, there may be no Social Security when you need it. Just “Trusting God” is just “presuming on His goodness.” God doesn’t reward presumption. He rewards faith plus works.
7. Be a father to your children. Consider their ages, what they are supposed to be doing. A child’s “job” is to learn and play. Learning involves learning to obey. Be consistent. Keep your word for rewards or punishments. Don’t expect your wife to do all the interaction with your children, meaningfully interact with them DAILY. FATHERS, as your son nears teens it is very important that he has plenty of observation time about how Men behave. Take them to other functions with men at church or sporting or hunting or working in the yard at home or at church. Teach him to change the oil and do a brake job. You have to cut the apron strings. Your wife probably won’t. As your daughter grows older make sure to model proper respect for your wife. Take her on outings. Show her how she should expect to be treated at the very least, and maybe at the very best. Hug her; hold her hand, even if she is embarrassed.
8. Maintain the house, cars, and appliances. Don’t be the house on the street that brings down the value of the neighborhood. Show some self-respect. Don’t make your wife drive a omb around town.
9. Maintain yourself. When you go out of the house, except to do yard work etc., look decent. You will reflect on your family. Bathe, get haircuts, shave or trim your beard and mustache, use proper grammar, do not curse, speak to authority with respect, do not become obese. (Trust me overweight causes many problems.)
10. Do more than work, watch TV, eat and sleep. Have a hobby: yard work, woodwork, model airplanes, trains, music etc. Be involved in the community: volunteer to help the band or little league, help with a hymn singing the nursing home, help at the church.

Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

(Stay tuned for a Top Ten for Ladies)