I am continuing the series that I began on February 18. Is the Home-Made, Purchased, or Given?
The home has brought the best from people, and for it men and women have given their all. For it, men have fought, bled, and died, simply because it represented everything they had, and was their most cherished possession. This home for which men died may not have been fancy or great, but could have been a shack by the road, a tent in the desert, a cave in the hills, or a wagon taking its journey to another land. Families which made up these homes could have been made up of ten or more people, ten or less, and maybe only one, but the idea or feeling is the same. This which is so close to me is mine. It was given to me by the Lord, I have earned it, or I have worked for it, therefore it is mine, and for me alone. The idea, I must protect, keep, make beautiful, and enjoy these blessings is the very heart and deep desire of everyone.
What makes a dwelling place a home? Is it the amount of furniture in a house, the size and number of rooms a house contains, the amount of gold or silver there, or the number of people living there? No, it is the inner being of the soul. Neither does location make the home, for people move from one area of the land to another, and still they are at home wherever they find themselves. Affection may turn from one house to another, but the affection for the separate members of the household remain the same. Husband and wife love each other, father and mother love the children, and the children love the parents, thus the family relations remain though carried to another place. When changes come, often the expression is made, we are going to buy a new home, or we are going to build a new home, or we are going to move into a new home. Are these expressions correct? Really not, because the home just moves to another house or location.
In this message, we ask, Is the home Made, Purchased, or Given.
The Home —God’s First Institution. Institute. An organization for the promotion of a cause. The home was truly an institution from the Lord to promote His cause in the earth, and to make life more meaningful and joyful for the man whom He had created. After God created man He said, “It is not good for man to be alone, I will make him an help meet for him.” Gen. 2:18. Thus the home was made by God himself for the good of man and to teach man many things.
Do we honor God my understanding and appreciating the blessings that God gave to us? What from within the institution of Home may God be teaching us? What from within the Home is God teaching you?
Encourage One Another,
Bro. Jim