Scripture Says!
1) Deuteronomy 6:4-7
"Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all of your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up."
2) Psalm 78 is actually titled "Tell the Coming Generation" and is all about telling the great works of the Lord to the coming generation.
3) Ephesians 5:25
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with he word."
Ephesians 6:4
"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."
It is obvious from the Word of God that God intends that we proclaim His excellencies not only to unbelievers (1 Peter 2:9) but also to our families (Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Ephesians 6:4). This makes complete since when you think about it. Husbands always tell their wives the things that are important to them. Dads always pass on to their kids what they love most. For an example, take the dad that played baseball all throughout his life. When that dad finds out that his wife is pregnant with a boy, how thrilled is he that he will be able to train his own baby boy to play the game of baseball that he loves so much. This is how God made us. We talk and teach our family the things that we love and adore.
If Scripture Says!
If Scripture makes it that evident that we are to do family devotion centered around the Word of God and God made us to talk about the things that we love the most, then why are there so many families that are not doing family devotion? I think there are many reasons but here are a five to think about:
1) We have never seen family devotion done. Most people have never witnessed a man lead his family in prayer, reading the word, teaching the word, and singing praises to God. It is hard to do something you have never seen.
2) We have never heard this taught from the pulpit. Many people have never heard their pastors talk about the necessity of leading their family in the things of God, and if they have they have never heard their pastors talk about it practically to where they can do it.
3) We do not have a personal devotion time ourselves. There are many that do not have family devotion because they are not even doing a personal devotion.
4) We do not truly care about our wives sanctification. We do not really understand that God uses means to conform his people into the image of Christ and one of the means God uses in conforming our wives into the image of Christ is us (their husbands).
5) We do not understand the depth of sin and the depravity of our kids souls. One main reason that we do not teach our kids in the ways of the Lord is because we have bought into the cultures teaching that our kids are good. This is not the case. Our kids are born as rebels and enemies to God (Ephesians 2; Colossians 1:21-23; Romans 3:9-20; Psalm 14; Psalm 51:5).
Because Scripture Says!
I am writing this because this has got to change. I will let your hear from one of the greatest preachers of all time:
"We deeply want a revival of domestic religion. The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children?
Oh, Christian men and women, be thorough in what you do and know and teach! Let your families be trained in the fear of God and be yourselves 'holiness unto the Lord'; so shall you stand like a rock amid the surging waves of error and ungodliness which rage around us." Charles Spurgeon
What This Looks Like For Me
Kahlie and I have recently been walking through the book of Luke. We do not attempt to go over whole chapters of scripture at one time, rather we take our time by going through 10 to 30 verses every day. The first thing I do is pray to the heavenly Father before we begin studying His Word. The next thing we do is read the passage out loud (we take turns reading). Then we go on to paraphrase the text that we read in our own words. Then we ask a crucial question. The question is, "What is God's divine purpose in inspiring Luke through the Holy Spirit to write what we have just read?" This is crucial because it keeps us from reading the Bible in an individualistic way, which we Americans are accustomed to doing. Then Kahlie and I will sometimes read a hymn that is Christ centered and God exalting. Lastly, we pray to the Heavenly Father once more.
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