SECURE A LASTING FUTURE FOR YOUR FAMILY, CHAPTER SIXTEEN

WHEN Jehovah united Adam and Eve in marriage, Adam expressed his joy by speaking the earliest recorded Hebrew poetry.  (Genesis 2:22,23) However, the Creator had more in mind than merely bringing pleasure to his human children.   He wanted married couples and families to do his will. He told the first pair:  "Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth." (Genesis 1:28) What a grand, rewarding assignment that was! How happy they and their future children would have been if Adam and Eve had done Jehovah's will in full obedience! 

Today, too, families are happiest when they work together to do God's will.  The apostle Paul wrote:  "Godly devotion is beneficial for all things, as it hold promise  of the life now and that which is to come."  (1 Timothy 4:8) A family that  lives with godly devotion and that follows Jehovah's guidance as contained in the Bible will find happiness in "the life now." (Psalm 1:1-3; 119:105; 2 Timothy 3:16)  Even if only one member of a family applies Bible principles, things are better than if no one does.

This book has discussed many Bible principles that contribute  to family happiness.  Likely you have noticed that some of them appear repeatedly throughout the book. Why? Because they represent powerful truths that  work for the good of all in various aspects  of family life.  A family that strives to apply these Bible principles  finds that godly devotion really holds "promise of the life now.' Let us look again at four of those important principles. 

Next time: THE VALUE OF SELF-CONTROL

From the book: THE SECRET OF FAMILY HAPPINESS, 1996