For two years our family lived in a relatively basic house here in Nicaragua. As is relatively normally here, the walls did not go all the way to the roof, meaning there was a several foot gap that allowed birds, bats, opossums, cats, mosquitos, giant flying beetles, and snakes free entrance into our house. We heard every noise on the street all night long, and the metal roof (no false ceiling) assured we heard every rain drop. Every day there seemed to be a new problem to fix. In fact, I’m pretty sure there was never a day where everything worked correctly. We finally decided to move to a newer and more “American” style house. I was thrilled to have nothing to worry about. Wrong! I’ve discovered that even new and well built houses still come with a regular list of issues that need to be addressed.
My point here is that everything in our lives will always be under construction. There will always be things that need to be added, removed, changed, repaired, etc. A prime example is our family. Family is an area of life that is always changing, because the people within it are always changing. What I want to do over the next few weeks is talk about how we as men can always be working to improve our families. I’ll be frank: we are often much better at fixing the material things in our homes than we are at making our family better. and more centered upon God. This is something we need to own and make sure we improve.
Let’s start by talking about the foundation of our home, of our family: God. If we as men don’t put God first in every part of our lives, and especially within our family, then things are likely going to suffer. This is how Jesus puts it:
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27
What is your family built upon? Is it truly built upon God? God should be the foundation of all we do in our family. We should allow God to guide how we treat our spouse, our kids, our parents, our siblings, etc. God’s Word should be the basis of all of our thoughts, words, and actions. The big question this week is: are you following God’s guidance and constructing your family upon his firm foundation?
