Christ Leads The Way

For the Christian, the standard by which we govern our lives is different from that of the world. Our focus is on having a home that is pleasing to God.

You have heard it said that home is where the heart is. When we make Christ great in our hearts, it is only then that we can make our homes great and in turn make our country and our world a better place to live.

The home, like the heart, is a battleground. It is the most important place that we can focus our attention to building a better country, a better people, and a better moral climate that allows us to value one another as human life given by God – to respect life and have a reverence for death. The devil is working to destroy our homes. He wants to change and overthrow everything that God has put in place to ensure that our homes are great.

That cunning enemy wants us to believe that marriage is not made for a man and a woman, for life. But God intended for it to be that way (Matthew 19:1-6). “He who created them in the beginning made them male and female […] For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Matthew 19:4-5).

God never intended for homes to be broken up by divorce. He did foresee special circumstances and allows for divorce for the cause of sexual immorality (Matthew 5:31) and an unbelieving spouse abandoning the marriage (1 Corinthians 7:10-15).

God is very clear about marriage: it must be between a man and a woman, and it must be for life in order for our homes to be fortified against the enemy. One home ruined by divorce is one too many. His plan was never for a single-parent household. Of course, there are situations beyond our control at times. More than those instances are ones where fathers neglect their duties, abandon their children, and relinquish all responsibility for raising the lives that they created to the mother. The Word tells us that “if any man does not provide for his own relatives, and especially for his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8). Absent fathers leave a gaping hole in their children’s lives.

According to the research gathered by scfathersandfamilies.com, “children in father-absent homes are five times more likely to be poor. In 2002, 7.8% of children in married couple families were living in poverty, compared to 38.4 percent of children in female-householder families.” God’s plan for the home is for leadership from a husband, guiding his wife and children the way God would have them to go and for both the mother and the father to be active participants in the lives of their children.

Great homes prioritize learning of the Bible and its precepts. Children arrive in the world as blank canvasses and are very impressionable. That is why it is so important that the values and teachings instilled in them are not relegated to schools (Deuteronomy 6:5-7). Kids need to be taught very early on the value of human life – that we are to respect one another and treat people how we want to be treated (Matthew 19:19). Then there will be less bullying, less disrespect, less suicide among teens and preteens, and less school violence.

God wants our homes to be great, but no matter what we do, our homes can never be great unless we each, as individuals, make heaven our true home (Philippians 4:20). We do so by carrying out the Lord’s will, and His will is that not any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

The way of the Lord is love, and love builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1) – it does not tear down another person. It appears that many have been turned over to a “mind to do what is morally wrong” (Romans 1:28). “They are full of envy, murder, disputes, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, […] and unmerciful. Although they know full well God’s just sentence – that those who practice such things deserve to die – they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them” (Romans 1:29-32).

Happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners, or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction” (Psalm 1:1-2) If we want to delight in God’s way instead of evil, then we must make heaven our home. We do so by believing that God sent His son, the Man, Christ Jesus to die for the sins of the world (John 3:16), confessing that wonderful name (Romans 10:9-10), repenting of our sins (Acts 2:38), and being baptized for the forgiveness of them (Rom 6:1-4).

We can have a better world. We can be a better people. And we can have better homes. “He has told you men what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: only to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). What will you do with it?