The Home – God’s Institution teaches us about love. God is Love. 1 John 4:8. God’s very being is love. Therefore, His First Commandment given on Mount Sinai was to love God. When asked about the first and greatest commandment, Jesus, His Son answered, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Mark 12:29-31.
How do we define love? It is not a material which can be touched with the hand or seen with the eye, yet its effects can be felt in the life of every individual and can be seen by the eye of everyone who watches people living with the action of love each day. That spirit of love is most clearly seen as expressed by parents for children, and children for parents. God expresses His love for us in the best way that is understood by man as He gives His Son for us. There is no price sufficient to take the place of a son or daughter in the home, for Godly parents would give up everything they have for the life of the child. God, who owned heaven and earth and who owned everything expect the love from man, and man himself through man’s own sin and rebellion gave His Son for man’s saviour, but it takes the home to fully express it to man.
Man purchases a spot of land, and makes a building, but God gives the spirit that makes a house and family a home.
The home is also a place for worship. This worship in the home does not take the place of public worship in the Church, because the Church was organized by the Lord Jesus Christ to be man’s public expression of love for God and man, as he unites with others to proclaim the Gospel of good news to the world. Public worship in the Church and public confession of faith in Jesus His Son through His church is God’s plan. The Church provides the opportunity for our confession of Him before the world, and a ministry in the Name of Jesus to others.
There is a place for prayer and supplication which only the home can meet. This prayer and supplication most often deals with the most secret parts of man’s life. There are interests, needs, and desires in a personal life which need not be expressed publicly, but are kept sealed between individuals and God. How wonderfully God has created man and woman for each other, that the two hearts would beat as one. This provides an opportunity for each to share the interests and deep emotional feelings with each other, to have someone who cares and loves by their side, and help in need, rejoice in joys, or weep in sorrows and join hands to walk together in problems.
Encourage One Another,
Bro. Jim Graham