Agape is important to the family relationship. It works best at the spousal level, then with the children to almost the same degree, and then with others.
Your children will never be as close to you as your mate. There is only one person whom you should see as the most valuable and precious person on earth, and that is your husband or wife. Next should come your children, and it is important to make it clear to them that they are valuable and precious through both your actions and your words.
Most men can do that very easily in action, but they have trouble doing it in words. That is one of the problems with the last two generations: Fathers never told their children that they loved them. Likewise, husbands never told their wives they loved them.
They just said, "Look at all the things I do for you." But wives and children need to have love communicated to them in action and in words. Actions alone are not good enough. Love is something that should constantly be verbally expressed, especially in the Christian home.
In order to have success in your marriage and family, you have to recognize the importance of family (by esteeming the value and preciousness of each member) and establish God's Word as the final authority in your family.
Strong families are important for the success of society and the success of the church. The family is the vehicle through which God communicates to man. It is a unit of society that has parental headship and parental discipline.
Scripture further supports that the family establishes and develops God-ordained relationships. In essence, the family is the God-ordained basic unit of society that has parental headship and discipline and is established for the purpose of enjoying a common life through working, caring, sharing, serving, and ministering to God, others, and itself.
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