Invite the Lord into Your House

April, 2007

by: Joseph Molinari

As a dad, I am constantly gauging the atmosphere of my home. Having not grown up in a Christian family, I often ask, “Does my home look different than the one I grew up in?” Even though you may strive to raise your kids according to the Scriptures, there are all kinds of influences that can invade your home to secretly work against you. After all, children formulate their own thoughts and can easily be swayed from paths of righteousness though you strive to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. This makes the job of a dad much more difficult especially if you work a full day and try to fit parenting into the few hours left before bedtime and on weekends. What you do with that limited time is crucial. Yet, you may be undermining your own efforts without even realizing it.

Take TV for example. David Frost said, “Television enables you to be entertained in your home by people you wouldn’t have in your home.” Isn’t that the truth!? There is no telling how your child will process music videos, Oprah talk, news of Iraq, dancing cheerleaders at a football game, or even cartoon characters who show zero respect for authority. What about music? Does the music you listen to soothe your kids or prompt them to lose self-control? What do they hear you singing absentmindedly as you toil about the house? What about non-Christian friends or family? Is there someone your child gravitates toward who might lure him or her in a different direction? Do you discuss and pray for unbelieving friends and family, or are you just letting your child absorb whatever attitudes and beliefs they bring to your home?

You certainly cannot isolate your children from the world, but how can you protect them, without becoming too fanatical, and yet, pursue fulfillment of Deuteronomy 11:18-20? “You shall…impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall teach them to your son, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” If the atmosphere of your house skews more toward the secular, then can you truly achieve such a biblical call?

The more you embrace the things of the world, the less Christ-centered your home becomes. “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”1 John 2:15 What do your sons and daughters see as important to you? The Dodgers? Your DVD collection? Working out? Maybe it’s time to become more aware of the focus in your home. I know I need to.

Dads, you need to surround your family with Christ. Invite the Lord into your home. Let worship music be your house soundtrack. Get your family in the Word often. Read Scripture to your kids at bedtime. Pray with them. Sing worship songs. Do breakfast-time devotions. Share your testimony with your children. Just talk about the Lord! So much can be done and most of it is easy. Change the balance of your home atmosphere toward Christ-centered living. Invite the Lord into your house so that whenever anyone shows up, whenever some influence tries to get in, it is obvious that you have a special Tenant living among you.