THE CHRISTIAN HOUSEHOLD MONTH
This month we are focusing on the Christian Household.
What should our homes and families have in them?
Here's a quote from Messages to Young People page 325.2, about the Christian household:
"From every Christian home a holy light should shine forth.
"Love should be revealed in action.
"It should flow out in all home activities, showing itself in thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy.
"There are homes where this principle is carried out.
"Homes where God is worshiped, and truest love reigns.
"From these homes, morning and evening prayer ascends to God as
sweet incense, and His mercies and blessings descend upon the
suppliants like the morning dew."
Basically, a Christian household will have the following:
- A light that shines holy
- Love
- Thoughtful kindness
- Gentle, unselfish courtesy
- Worship to God
- Morning and evening prayer
- Mercies and blessing from God
Wow! That is quite a description of how are households are to look and function.
So let's start with:
#1: A light that shines holy.
Jesus said: "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
A holy light is a light that shines for Jesus in order to glorify God.
Psalms 119:105 says "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
This verse describes the source of the light.
So what is Jesus saying to us through Matthew 5:16?
Could it actually mean that we are to be excited about what God is doing in our lives and we are to tell others about it? We can wager a "yes" with confidence because of the final phrase in this same scripture: "and glorify your Father in heaven."
What an encouragement to know that by our simple action of feasting on God's Word, a light will shine out of us that others will see, and when they see the results of our lives because of God working in us, those results will give glory, honor, and praise to God.
Rate yourself 1-5....a light that shines holy from your home.
#2 Love
Jesus said in John 31:34, "Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another. If you have love for one another then everyone will know that you are my disciples."
So when light shines out of us, everyone will know we are on God's side.
Also, when we love others, everyone will know that we are followers of Jesus.
Rate yourself 1-5. How is your family doing on this topic of Love.
#3 Thoughtful kindness
In Zechariah 7:9 it says this:
"Thus has the Lord of hosts said, 'Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion, to each other.'"
The definition of kindness is this: the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.
Rate yourself 1-5. Is your family thoughtful and kind?
#4
Gentle, unselfish courtesy
Titus 3:2 indicates that God's people should be bright-hearted and courteous.
How would you rate your family?
#5 Worship to God
"Listen, dear ones-get this straight; O Israel, don't take this lightly. Don't take up with strange
gods, don't
worship
the latest in
god
s. I'm
God
, your
God
, the very
God
who rescued you from doom in Egypt, Then fed you all you could eat, filled your hungry stomachs."
How is your family doing in worship to God?
#6 Morning and evening prayer
In the
morning
, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the
morning
I will order
my
prayer
to You and
eagerly watch.
May my
prayer
be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the
evening offering.
Devote yourselves to
prayer
, keeping alert in it with
an attitude of
thanksgiving;
"It is just as essential, for us to pray three times a day as it was for Daniel.
Prayer is
the
life of
the
soul,
the
foundation of spiritual growth.
In
your
home
, before your family, and before your workmen, you should testify to this truth. And when you are privileged to meet with your brethren
in the
church, tell them of
the
necessity of keeping open
the
channel of communication between God and
the
soul. Tell them that if they will find heart and voice to pray, God will find answers to their prayers. Tell them not to neglect their religious duties. Exhort
the brethren to pray. We must seek if we would find, we must ask if we would receive, we must knock if we would have
the door opened unto us.-(
The
Signs of
the
Times, February 10, 1890.) {Pr 20.3}
#7 Mercies and blessing from God
Blessed
be
the
God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies
and
God
of all comfort,
Ephesians 2:4-5
New American Standard Bible (NASB) says:
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead [a]in our transgressions, made us alive together [b]with Christ (by Grace you have been saved),
Is your home filled with the mercies and blessings from God?
Rate yourself 1-5.
Now that you have rated yourself, some of the scores may be high and some may be low.
I don't want you to leave sad or discouraged, I want us to end this program with hope.
So here's what I want you to do.
Think of one of the seven items that makes a Christian home that you gave yourself a score of 1, 2, or 3.
Now, I want you to think of one thing that you could do in your home to raise it one number.
For example, let's talk about #6, morning and evening prayer.
Scripture guides us to the knowledge that prayer is the source of help, answers, healing, and connection with God.
"For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their
prayer."
So if you rated yourself a 1 or 2 on the topic of prayer, what could you do to increase your rating in your home?
What if you got up a little earlier to pray?
What if you pulled yourself and your family together to pray at breakfast before everyone scatters for the day?
What if you prayed together when your family has a problem?
What if you encouraged a friend to pray through their struggle?
What if you prayed with your family in the evening or at bedtime bringing all the days' cares to Jesus?
What if you planned a fun family activity to find all the prayers of Jesus in the Bible and then talk about what they could mean to your family
Let our prayer be that our homes will be filled with:
- A light that shines holy
- Love
- Thoughtful kindness
- Gentle, unselfish courtesy
- Worship to God
- Morning and evening prayer
- Mercies and blessing from God
