1 CHRONICLES 16:43 – Then all the people departed each to his house, and David went home to bless his household. “

THEME OF THE DAY:  BEING A HOME BLESSING.  What are our homes?  We may answer such a question with a lot of good things.  Home is a place of safety and refuge after living in a fearful and dangerous world.  Home is a place where our closest human relationships develop.  Home is the place of relaxation from the demands upon us in life.  Home is the place of fun among family members. Home is a place of developing character, learning life skills, crying together in hard times, and rejoicing together in good times.  The list of what a home is goes beyond the nine things I just mentioned. But there is something else about a home.  In fact, it is the most important thing about our homes.  It is the place; the chief place, the validating place, and the most accurate place to affirm we are true Christians or our homes expose us as hypocrites.  And what we truly are is daily who we are in our homes.

In today’s scripture is the end of a corporate worship setting of God’s people around the Ark of the Covenant  There was singing and burnt offerings being presented to the Lord. One feels the excitement in reading the account of this festive service (1 Chronicles 16:37-42). At the end, all the people departed to their houses as did David, but pay attention to his intentions for his home – to bless his household.   Let’s make two applications for us to be a blessing to our families in our households.

First to be a blessing in our homes remember our chief privilege and responsibility in the world is to model Jesus Christ in our speech, conduct, and sacrificial service.  But “in the world” includes behind closed doors of our home.  Too many professing Christians live “Jekyll and Hyde” spiritual lives.  They are the “good” Christian outside of the home and especially on Sundays but live little different than unbelievers in their homes among their families.  They complain. They are impulsive and unkind in speech.  They don’t pray as families. They don’t read the Bible as families.  They don’t actively seek to be servants to one another in their marriages or roles as dads and moms.  They are blind to the needs of others and when called to put the needs of others ahead of their own, they do so grumbling.  We are to represent Jesus Christ twenty-four hours a day trusting the Lord to guard us in our sleep but then taking seriously  our responsibility and privilege to model Him in our homes all our waking hours.

A second way to be a blessing in our homes is to be a Fruit of the Spirit person who adorns the home and all its relationships with this character of Christ –  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23).  Can we imagine what a welcoming home that would be if all the professing Christians living there were Fruit of the Spirit Christians?  We don’t have to imagine it because God expects and provides for us to be those type of Christians.  The failure to do so rests upon us.

So, being a blessing in our homes.  Think about this, if I moved into your homes for a week, without you knowing it, and observed your conduct within your family for a week, what would I observe – a true Christian or would I see a contradiction between what you profess and how you live in your home?

PRAYER: “Father, help me to be a blessing first and foremost in my home and that by living for and modeling Jesus.”

QUOTE: “What we are as a Christian is revealed in homes. Our true spiritual condition is who we are before our families.”

Because of Him,

Pastor Jim