Thoughts on Home

Monday, January 14, 2002

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:5, 6)

When reference is made to this text, we are almost never told of its relationship to the family. We are told about the work of John the Baptist. We are told about the preparation of the people. We are told about, stirring the minds of the leaders. About self-denial, humility, temperance godliness, but almost never about the family; however, hidden right there in the text, it says, "He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers."

Friends, the last days message, the Elijah message, calls for the awakening of the family to unity in fellowship to the Lord. Yes, it has symbolic application to the "children of Israel" being the children and "God" being their Father, but it also literally applies to the parents responsibility to bring up children in the Lord. One of the first results of true conversion is the strengthening of the family. This is because the home has been the central area of attack by the devil, and the Elijah message calls for reform, and makes it an important aspect of making "ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Parents, and especially us fathers, "provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," (Eph. 6:4) for the saving of their souls.

Thursday, May 09, 2002

Home Training

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Pro. 22:6)

"The ideal home is one where the children shall say, 'When we marry and have homes of our own, we wish to love and be loved as our father and mother love each other.' It is where the sons are taught respect for all women by the deference and kindness of their father to their mother. It is where daughters learn from their mother's patient example how beautiful a thing wifely and motherly affection is-- learn the beauty of daily unselfish devotion to the good of all." Helen Ekin Starrett, The Charm of a Well-Mannered Home, 13, 14.

In our fast paced, selfish society, values aren't based on God at all, rather on the "commandments of men." Fathers are in the bars, watching ESPN of large screen TV, if they live at home at all. Mothers are so independent that many believe they don't even need a man around. Some have succumbed to the idea that it is all right for their children to have two mothers.

How can we teach true values? What are we training our children to become? How can we explain the love of God if we aren't obedient to His will and love?

Today, we are seeing the effects of our ill homes as society crumbles before our eyes. Nevertheless, there is hope! "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," (Luke 19:10). Accept Him today and let Him turn your life around.

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

The Christian Home

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. (Gen. 1:27, 28)

"Either you have a home now, or you once had a home, or you hope to have a home, or all three together. Home is not a house, though a house may be connected with a home. Home is not a family, though a family may make a home. Home is the state in which there is a consciousness of security and well-being, a community of interests, and an unselfish love devoted to the benefit of all." A. W. Spalding in Church Officers' Gazette, February, 1937.

The ideal family, according to God's word, includes a father and a mother, experienced and wise, and children whom it is their mission and delight to train in self-government, correct habits of living, and a lifestyle pleasing to others and satisfying to themselves. It is a place where God's name is glorified, both in words and in deeds.

"The ideal can never be attained where there is not a fairly equal reciprocity in devotion, labor, self-denial, between the members of the family." Helen Ekin Starrett, The Charm of a Well-Mannered Home, 13, 14.