The R.O.C.K. Club in Radford, VA, Cares About You and Your Family
One of the great needs in our culture is the need for people to create and maintain healthy relationships. Everything today, it seems, is instant, digital, and “on-the-go,” including our personal interactions. Screen time takes the place of family time. Long, deep conversations have given way to text messages, even between people in the same room.
We’re not saying that modern technology is a bad thing. It makes many laborious tasks much easier and brings people together from great distances. But when it takes the place of healthy relationships, it needs to be re-evaluated. This month, we here at
The R.O.C.K. Club in Radford, VA, want to discuss the need for healthy relationships.
Learn About the Need for Healthy Relationships in Our Culture
Take a look around you as compared to decades ago. Yes, we still had problems. Yes, there were still fights, people at odds with each other, and broken homes. But these issues, and more, have reached critical mass in our present society. The dire need for healthy, face-to-face, personal relationships is more evident than ever before.
We have closer relationships with our smartphones, gaming consoles, and streaming services than our own spouse, children, or friends. It is common to see a family or a group of friends together with everybody on their phones or devices. Beyond technology, there are many broken families in the United States.
The National Fatherhood Initiative reports that, according to the United States Census Bureau, 18.3 million children live in fatherless homes. Our hats are off to those single parents who love their children and fight to make it work. We need a resurgence of healthy familial relationships and friendships in the United States today.
Understand How to Create Healthy Relationships Between Spouses
It’s a fact; if you are married, your closest interpersonal relationship should be with your spouse. Your marriage is vitally important. Marriage and the family are the first institutions ever created by God. In the Bible, Genesis 2:24 reads, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” God constructed your marriage for a purpose. It is worth fighting for.
Schedule regular date nights between you and your spouse with no children and no screens. Just enjoy each other’s company and conversation. Get your face out of your device and hold hands with your spouse. Talk to your spouse. Kiss your spouse in front of your children, so that they can see that Daddy and Mommy still love each other.
Too many people give up on their marriage because, as they say, “they fell out of love.” No, you “fell” out of infatuation. There’s a big difference. Love isn’t a feeling. Love is a verb. Love is worthwhile work. Work hard at it.
Create Healthy Relationships with Your Children
Your children need you. They need you much more than your job needs you or your hobby needs you. Too many parents, especially fathers, prioritize other things above healthy relationships with their children. And the children suffer for it. The home is where they learn about love, respect, manners, and adherence to authority. Children need your love, support, and guidance. When we as parents don’t offer that, they will find it on the Internet, their friends, or other unhealthy avenues.
Make “game night” with your children a regular occurrence, with no screens and no distractions. When your children want to talk, listen. Spend quality time with them. Learn what they like and get involved with it. Reassure them that you love them, in word and action. Children need their “home team.”
Have Healthy Relationships with Friends
In the 17th century, English poet John Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself.” This is just as true today as it was then. We are not meant to go through life without the support and love of others. In the Bible, Proverbs 27:17 reads, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so, a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” As well, Proverbs 17:17 reads, “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” God wants us to have friends to lean on and link shields with, in good and bad times.
This comes, however, with a caveat. When we were young, our parents told us to not run around with people who will get us in trouble. This advice goes for adults as much as children. Our healthy relationships need to be with friends who will love us, support us, and encourage us. No healthy friendship exists with someone who belittles you, always acts selfishly, or wants to cause problems.
It’s Important to Have a Healthy Relationship with Jesus Christ
The most important relationship that you can have, though, isn’t with your spouse. It isn’t with your children or your friends. The most important, most beneficial relationship that you can have is with Jesus. He loves you so much that He came to shed His blood and die on a cross for your sins. Jesus wants you to have eternal life, so He took your punishment for you. In the Bible, Jesus said in John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Jesus is the one friend who will stick by you throughout your life. In Hebrews 13:5, He tells us, “… I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” He will always guide you on the right path as you follow Him, day after day. The best, healthiest relationship of your life can start right now. Realize that you are a sinner and that your sin deserves punishment in a place called Hell. But Jesus took that punishment for you, and now He will save you if you call out to Him.
The R.O.C.K. Club is Here for You and Your Family
Here at The R.O.C.K. Club in Radford, VA, we care about your entire family. We offer Christ-centered childcare and educational programs for your children. But we also want to see healthy relationships among families and friends all across the New River Valley. Most of all, we pray that you will see the importance of having a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you have any questions about salvation and following Jesus, please call us. We would love to explain more to you about how you can have eternal life through Jesus Christ. There will always be trouble, obstacles, and problems in the world. But with healthy relationships, and Jesus leading the way, we will be more than conquerors (Romans 8:37)!
Learn more about healthy relationships and The R.O.C.K. Club’s Christ-centered childcare and educational programs, call us today at (540) 267-3000. Let us help you understand how you can have a real relationship with God through Jesus. Let’s fight for our spouses, children, and friends by having healthy relationships!
