I became a Christian my sophomore year in college. After being a Christian for about two years, my greatest desire outside of growing to know Christ more was to marry the young lady I was dating at the time. As my heart changed, so did my desires to live rightly for the glory of God. We were still both in our early twenties, but I knew I wanted to marry her. Yet, those with whom I shared this desire gave me reasons not to consider marriage or start a family. As a young Christian, I was confused because some of the most significant pushback I received were those who professed Christ. Everything I read in the Scripture told me that marriage was good, designed by God and that raising children to know the Lord was part of His design.
For as far back as I can remeber, I wanted to have a family. Well, I should say a family of my own. Yes, a mother and father who lived in the home togeher. Loved eachother, kept the same phone number for decades and would welcome their kids back home when they went away. While I was blessed with so much love growing up, I never expeerinced my own parents in the home with me.
As the providence of God would have it, In my senior year, I saved enough money to buy a ring, found a job, and asked her father for permission. A year later, we were married. My wife and I always share with couples that marriage is hard work, but it is good work. Healthy families and marriages don’t happen by osmosis but are built on a biblical foundation and intentionally. My wife and I have been married since 2005 and are raising four children. We may not have all the trappings the world offers, but as the Scripture teaches, there is a blessing for those who fear the Lord. Our greatest gift and responsibility sit around our dinner table. The goal of our family is that our kids will not only know the Lord, but they would see Jesus within the four walls of our home.
See, it is not a waste or foolish to persue the things of God. Living and following the Lord bring about blessing and favor. We may not always see financial gains, noterity from the world, but that is not our aim as Christians. Our aim is to glorfiy God and enjoy Him forever.
Godly families are not perfect, ask my kids, and they will tell you. Godly families aren’t even free from being affected by the fallen world, but they are families that seek to give Glory to God. How important is this? Well, if we get our families right, then we can change a generation. Years ago I heard Pastor Michael Catt, say , “Whoever wants the next generation the most will have them.”
Before the Lord brought the Israelites into the promised land, he continually laid out for them a plan of remembering. He called them to remember who and why they were delivered. The first several chapters of Exodus tell the story of a people in bondage to the Egyptians, but God sent a deliverer. Yet, it was all the Lord and his miracle-working power that set them free and gave them a promise of a new home. The Lord desired every generation to know his deeds in Egypt and know him as the true and living God.
“These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” Deuteronomy 6:6-7.
Seeing Jesus in the family means that, like the families who have been set free from Egypt, we operate and live differently. We too, belong to a new Kingdom and pass the truth of Christ to the next generation. Seeing Jesus in the family means we have both a proper theology of who Jesus is and seek to live out practically his teaching in the four walls of our homes. Seeing Jesus in the family means reclaiming a biblical worldview of marriage, children, and sexuality. Psalm 128:3 says, “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children, like young olive trees around your table.” For this Scripture to become realities in our families, Jesus must be at the center of our lives and homes.
This is part 1 in a multi part blog series all about seeing Jesus in the home.
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