Households

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 7
 
“And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark.” Genesis 7:1
It is interesting that the Lord first mentions “house” in the case of Noah. “Come thou and all thy house into the ark.” Why did God say that? Because the world had become full of violence and corruption. This is when the household takes on special significance. God, seeing the deterioration of the fallen creation, has given us the household as a domain of protection and blessing. This is particularly important to us today because we are seeing moral degeneration and the increase of violence and corruption around us. This violence and corruption, which has always existed, is made much more available through the media. It is now easily available in our houses, so it is necessary to face this issue in our households. How are we going to shelter and protect our children, and on what principle are we going to bring blessing to them? There isn’t a Christian parent who doesn’t want to bless and to be a source of blessing to their household. We all want that. The problem is we may want it in different ways than what God intended.
I know that we all have made mistakes, but I would like to share with you some of the principles that have encouraged me, some principles from the Word of God for my faith to lay hold of to carry me through. In Acts 11:14 we read, “Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.” Isn’t that wonderful? God Himself has set out to bless our children. As a mother, you are protective by nature and need to be careful about where your children go and with whom you entrust them. We know, however, that we can’t always protect them, so by faith we claim God’s promise that He Himself wants to bless our children — and He will. Think about Moses’ parents. When Moses went to Pharaoh’s court, God protected him there. Jochebed, who was the daughter of Levi (Ex. 6:16,18,20) had to be a very old woman when she gave birth to Moses, so she probably did not live to see the blessing that Moses became to God’s people. But she had faith. She lived by faith! And this is the key ingredient to this subject. By faith Moses was hid (Heb. 11:23), and he lived his later life in faith. By faith, let us live in the presence of God for and with our households.
Talk on “Grace for the Household” by Doug Buchannan—adapted