Starke Reality: Influence in Your Home

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Influence in Your Home

From: firstlight@billriceranch.org

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Acts 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

Influence in Your Home

The other day my 15-year-old son, Wilson, said, "Hey, Dad, that face you made looks exactly like Daddy-man." Daddy-man is what my kids call my dad. So I said, "Show me the face you are talking about." He tried to replicate it, and not only did I not know that I ever made a face like that, I don't remember Dad ever making a face like that. Even at this stage of my life, apparently, I do some things just like my dad. The fact is that my sons do some things just like me although I might be the last person to recognize that because I don't see myself. I am the only person I know that has not taken an objective look at me, and you could probably say the same thing about yourself. That is why it is so easy to underestimate the power of our influence in our homes.

In Acts 16, a jailer, who had put Paul and Silas into prison, had witnessed the power of God as God freed Paul and Silas from this prison. Famously, he asked them, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." The implication was that if this man believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, his family would be saved as well.

Now, this was not a package deal. Paul was not implying that if one person gets saved then everyone in the home will automatically be saved as well, but I do think that God has a working assumption that if a man is saved, his family will be saved as well. We should not think, "I hope that my kids will get saved, but I don't know what God thinks about it." Would God send His only begotten Son to die for our sins yet be indifferent about our children? No, God wants your family to be saved even more than you do, and if they are going to be saved, it is going to begin with you. I am talking specifically to fathers, although regardless of your age, gender, or situation, your influence is broader than you think for good or for bad.

The things that you allow in your house will likely spread, whether it be good or bad. Attitudes, worries, and habits can quickly spread from us to those in our home. Parents need to be particularly careful that they only live in a way that they would want their children to copy. While either a cold or a bad attitude can quickly spread in a home, the influence of the gospel can and should make a difference for those under our influence. May the gospel spread to our homes, through our homes, and to this world.

Prayer Requests: -Meetings this week in Vandalia, OH; Marana, AZ; and Camden, TN