Friday, February 02, 2007

Do we behave wisely at home?


Once again, I refer you to the prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon. He continues to be one of my favorite bible teachers....

"I will behave wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart-" Psalm 101:2


"..It is a blessed thing if we can look back upon a father or mother's example with nothing but unalloyed gratitude to God for both. But there are many who, in looking back, must say, 'I thank God I was delivered from teh evil influence to which I was subjected as a child.' Do not let your child ever have to say that of you, but ask for grace that in your own house you may walk with a perfect heart. For surely, if we are not living in our households as we should, this above all common faults and weaknesses is one of the most disparaging and condemnatory marks with which we can possibly be tainted. In the world we may be under some pressure to live up to a standard, but at home we are left free to be what we really are. Outside, men are checked and kept within decent bounds by the example and the observation of others, so that they are not altogether what they seem, but they are partly regulated by what they wish to appear. Even when they are in the church they are under some restraint. But at home they can think aloud, speak without premeditation, follow their own tastes, and gratify their natural inclinations. At home, therefore, if anywhere, the man is what he is. You need not tell me what appearance you will put on next Sunday morning. I would rather ask you to judge yourself by your lifestyle on Saturday night. How will you be tomorrow morning, and what will you be to your employees, to your children, to your spouse, to your neighbors? If God, by His infinite grace and the power of His Holy Spirit, helps you to walk with a perfect heart at such times and in such places, then you will be an honor to the church of God, and you will have a blessing upon your own soul....

...I believe that the greatest power in the world, next to the ministry of the word, is the holy living of Christian families by the power of the Holy Spirit....Do pause, think, consider, look; and may God give you grace and sense enough to see that you need wisdom to steer yourself and your family through this voyage of life and that wisdom only is to be had from heaven. May you bend your knee at this very hour and say, 'Lord, give me Your grace. Give me a renewed heart. Give me Christ to be my Savior, and help me to behave myself in a perfect way till You shall bring me to see You in heaven in Your glory." (from, A Passion For Holiness in a Believer's Life by Charles Spurgeon.