Your First Assignment Load for Week 2: “Setting Biblical Goals”
1. Read all of 1 Timothy (i.e., 6 chapters), preferably one per day, slowly and carefully. Note in your journal if there are any verses that you don’t understand, or verses that you feel God wants you to apply urgently to your life. Read one chapter of Proverbs each day, for example the chapter corresponding with the date.
2. Memorize Hebrews 10:24-25. (Because this is the first time you may be memorizing in many years, you will not incur a strike if you are unable to memorize vs 25. The test will be only on vs 24, but preferably add vs 25 if at all possible. Preferably in the ESV.)
3. Ask your wife to help you come up with a goal in each area of marriage, parenting, and finances (3 goals total).
4. Pray daily for the group to be able to memorize the verse, that their wives will be encouraged by this decision to join, for the ability to be punctual next week, and for wisdom to set godly goals.
5. Bring your $20 with you in a sealed envelope. (I’ll hold onto it until the end of our time together).
If you have any questions, please ask me to clarify, rather than make a mistake and incur a strike.
Other Assignments
- Take your wife out on a date she would enjoy, and ask her to rate the date afterward using these metrics: initiative taken by you to make arrangements, consideration of her preference over your own, enjoyment of the evening.
- Buy your wife flowers spontaneously once this month.
- Have a discussion with your wife about your marital intimacy, and together come up with goals for improvement. You do not need to share these with the group; just that you did the assignment.
- Prepare 5×10 minute devotional times with your family, including a short Bible reading (in which your kids answer questions about the reading), prayer time, and song. Lead the family 5 nights of the week. You initiate the time or ask your wife to remind you to initiate.
- Draw up a document with your assets, liabilities (mainly what you have in savings and what debt you have as a family). You don’t need to share this with the group, but you do need to know what your debt is, and what exact month it will be paid off (in other words if you have significant debt, your assignment is to figure out a payment plan; do not do this without your wife’s input!)
- Find out how much you have given to the church in the last year, and discuss with your wife how much you should give over the next year. You won’t need to share this with the group; just that you completed the assignment.
- Draw up a document with information your wife would need if you died suddenly. Include passwords, bank accounts, investments, life insurance policies, a step-by-step list of actions she needs to take, and a list of bills you pay or subscriptions you renew or whatever (and include steps on how you do that and how frequently). Make sure she knows where this document is, and make sure it is not going to fall into the wrong hands!
- Decide how many books you would like to read this year, and draw up a realistic timetable.
- Ask your wife what she thinks about your health, eating/drinking habits, and your weight, and if needs be come up with a plan of action to lose weight, or exercise more, or eat more healthy.
- Spend individual time with each of your children, e.g., a daddy-daughter date, or a fishing trip, or just walking the dog together. Make the time intentional. Do not use your phone while you are with them. Prepare some questions, teach them a skill, or play a game. Ask your wife and kids for suggestions.
These are just samples of the types of assignments I give. The most enthusiastic response is always from the wife. I have had wives thank me profusely for doing Fight Club with their husbands. I have even had wives months later ask me to do a refresher course.
Be creative and sensitive. The goal is to develop a culture of communication, accountability, and initiative in these people, as well as instilling habits that will over time be productive for them spiritually.
This article originally appeared here.
