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A Few Thoughts For Your Tuesday
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Date: Apr 19 2016 12:27 PM
Hey Everybody,
I hope your week is off to a positive start. Here are a few thoughts for your day today.
Godly Homes
God, as recorded in Gen. 2, ordained the beautiful arrangement we call marriage. It truly should be the vestibule of heaven, a foretaste of glory divine. The Lord powerfully furnishes bride and groom with a worthy goal: "O magnify the Lord with me; let us glorify His name together" (Psa. 34:3).
What Is Home?
Some years ago, a London magazine asked the question of thousands of people, "What is Home?" Many of the answers were the obvious ones. But the editor picked out seven answers, which he called "gems." Those selected were published as follows:
- A world of strife shut out, a world of love shut in.
- Where the small are great and the great are small.
- The father's kingdom, mother's world, child'sparadise.
- Where we grumble the most and are treated the best.
- The center of affection, with the heart's wishes entwined.
- Where our stomach gets three meals a day, and our heart gets a thousand. - The only place on earth where the faults and failings of humanity are hidden under the mantle of love.
We read the challenge for couples everywhere in Psa. 127:1,"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it." Homes that are successful are those that seek God's will first in their affections. They realize that the father is the head of the house (Col. 3:18), that mother belongs in the home (Titus 2:5) and that children should be given discipline with parental love (Heb. 12:1-11).
The Heart of a Child
Whatever you write on the heart of a child
No water can wash away.
The sand may be shifted when billows are wild,
And the efforts of time may decay.
Some stories may perish, some be forgot,
But this "Graved record, time changes not.”
Whatever you write on the heart of a child,
A story of gladness or care,
That heaven has blessed or earth has defiled,
Will linger unchangeable there.
Genuine love for the truth and eternity must permeate our daily conduct as parents. We must saturate the family environment with absolute commitment to Bible standards (Titus 2:11-12). And we must train our children to "obey your parents in the Lord" (Eph. 6:1-4), which then becomes the bedrock of their submission to other authorities - school, state, and most of all, to God. As the apostle wrote, "Greater joy have I none than this, than to hear of my children walking in the truth" (3 John 4).
If I Were Young Again
I often wonder if we would be careful and wise enough to change our past, if we could. Given fifteen more years by God, Hezekiah still blundered greatly (2 Kings 20). There are probably many things that most of us should change. What are they? If I were young again, I would:
1. Respect my parents more (Prov. 13:1fl)
2. Guard my influence (1 Tim. 4:12-16)
3. Be wise, to teach others the Gospel (2 Cor. 4:3)
4. Be quick to study the Bible (2 Tim. 2:15)
5. Be definite in serious praying (Luke 18:1)
6. Marry a devoted Christian (Matt. 6:33).
The following passages emphasize the above points very well: "You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart" (2 Cor. 3:2-3). "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Luke 11:9-10).
If more parents and children realized how important it is to develop their talents, instead of hiding them, our homes would be far more successful in the eyes of the Lord. We would never have a shortage of elders, preachers and Bible teachers in the church as we do today. Living for Jesus would be our theme song and prospects for heaven would be brighter.
If I were young again, I would think more often and seriously about heaven and hell. Someone wisely and pungently wrote these solemn words:
HELL! The prison house of despair;
Here are some things that will be there:
Fire and brimstone are there we know,
For God in His word has told us so,
Memory, remorse, suffering and pain,
Weeping and wailing, but all in vain;
Blasphemers, swearers, haters of God,
Christ rejecters while here on earth trod;
Murderers, gamblers, drunkards and liars,
Will have their part in the lake of fire;
The filthy, the vile, the cruel and mean,
What a horrible mob in Hell will be seen!
Yes, more than humans on earth can tell
Are the torments and woes of eternal Hell!
When we do not accept the challenge of living a godly life, our homes miss the necessary demands that produce better families. A wise person has said, "You start cutting your wisdom teeth the first time you bite off more than you can chew." Parents who never demand anything of their children rear children who never accomplish anything. Looking back honestly will cause us to realize that we lived beneath our privileges so much of the time. Playing "catch up" reminds us of how we deprived ourselves of maturity far too long. The following thought-provoking poem should get our attention:
Across the fields of yesterday,
He sometimes comes to me,
A little lad just back from play
The boy I used to be.
He looks at me so wistfully,
When once he's crept within,
It is as if he hoped to see
The man I might have been.
Better homes on earth will lead us to that eternal heavenly home of the soul. Let us fight the good fight of faith!
Have a great week!
Mitch Robison
Enon Church of Christ
1366 Enon Road
Webb, AL 36376
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