Make Our Home Your Home

It was more obvious back in the day when another god had a family’s allegiance due to the shiny statue in the living room.

Nowadays, idolatry might not be as blatant but that does not mean it is absent.

The lures of this world have many homes within their grasps vying for every ounce of devotion a family can muster.  Fathers who teach their sons how to hit a ball more often than they teach them to follow God have made their decisions.  Mothers who spend more resources on the outer appearances of their daughters than the internal quality of their hearts have made their decisions.  Families who make Jesus an honorable mention in the course of family life rather than the centerpiece of their homes have made their decisions.

I recently officiated a funeral service for a friend’s father.  Since this man was not active in any church, they were in desperate need for someone to navigate them through the funeral proceedings.  As I conversed with the family, members sincerely believed that this man had professed faith in Christ at one point in his life.  As I walked through this family during the grieving process, I asked them to reflect on their father.  Each family member shared the same thing concerning this man’s life: cars.  This man loved cars.  He loved to buy them, work on them, display them, and drive them.  Standing in the funeral home with the entire family, I discovered this man’s legacy was that he liked cars.

It’s hard for me to determine if cars were this man’s god or not, but when asked what was the biggest memory of their father, that’s all his family could provide.  As I drove behind the last car he would ride in as his casket was being transported to the cemetery, I wondered: If I were to die right now, what would my family say was my one thing?  If they were to summarize my life’s pursuits and communicate the one thing that had my devoted service, what would they say?

What Would Your Family Say About You at Your Funeral

What would your family say about you?

That day is coming.  One day, your body will be gone and your family and friends will finally talk about you without any concern of repercussion.  As they huddle up merely feet away from your casket, what would they say was your one thing?  What god did you follow all your days?  What thing or person had your heart so tightly that it consumed your thoughts?

You are choosing something now, and your family sees it.  It might be a golf club or it might be a Bible, but they all know what it is.  Does that mean that golf is evil?  No, unless golf steals our hearts so much that it asserts itself into God’s rightful place.  Whatever it might be, your job is to get rid of those gods you have collected along the way.  Remove them from your home.  Let there be no question concerning which god to which you belong.

One great step in communicating your desire to your family is to be honest with them about your past mistakes and your future desires.  Gather your family together and declare, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  We haven’t always put him first.  We’ve brought a lot of things into our home that we have put before him, but today is a new day.  We will serve the Lord.”

When we were leading our church through a time for families to make Christ the center of the home rather than an honorable mention, I looked for a worship song that a family could sing together to commit themselves to the Lord.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of material out there.

I decided to write a worship song for our church body entitled “Your Home.”  I prayed that husbands and wives would sing this hand in hand.  I prayed that fathers and mothers would sing this over their children.  My prayer for them, and for you, is that we would choose to make our homes his home in every room of the house.

 

YOUR HOME

By Travis Agnew

Verse 1:

We will choose this very day whom we will serve

Give you the praise that you deserve

We will follow our great God, no one else will do

Unite our hearts, we’re in desperate need of you

 

Chorus:

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord

Led by your Spirit, obeying your Word

Make our home, your home

As for me and my house, in you, we will trust

Love one another the way you love us

Make our home, your home

 

Verse 2:

God help us humble ourselves and lay down our pride

Help us forgive, your grace as our guide

We will seek your constant help to cherish our vows

Rescue our homes, we’re in need of you now

 

Bridge:

Come renew and restore; take back what is yours

Come and heal our families

 

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