“But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.’’ (Matthew 12:25, NKJV)

It is a spiritual principle taught to us by Jesus Himself; a house divided cannot stand, yet we think that we can be at odds with our spouse about the way we should raise our children and still be successful. The way we grew up, and our own personal convictions all come into play when we consider how we want to raise our own children. Our spouse often has different plans, what are we to do?

“I can’t allow my children to… (you name it) even if my husband thinks it’s fine.”

“He doesn’t care for our children or put thought into them the way that I do, so therefore my way is better.” These are all divisive ways of thinking and talking to our spouse, yet it’s a conversation many of us have regularly.

Recently my husband and I went through a major growth spurt in our marriage. Though it had little to do with this issue I found myself wanting to focus on it moving forward. I told him we needed to work on being a united front and that the kids should see no deviation in the way we ran things. He agreed and as issues came up, we discussed them in private to figure out the best way to compromise. It has been life changing. We get a lot further with our kids now working in unison. 

Listen again to the words of Jesus — “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” His words could not be clearer. The choice is yours; obey the words of our Lord and find peace and unity in your marriage and household or continue in strife through your stubbornness. I implore you to be not just a hearer of the word, but a doer of it.