Compartmentalization and the Christian Home.

One man well said that “as the home goes, so goes the church.” The reality is seen all around us today. Our churches are filled with a myriad of dysfunctions that can be traced back to the failure of Christian homes to embrace the Biblical mandates of Christ centered, God glorifying leadership, love, simplicity and sacrifice.

Too often we have learned to comfortably compartmentalize our home life, church life and work life successfully while fooling no one but ourselves. During the week in our vocations, we find little difference in our attitudes and actions. At home we live for possessions, entertainment and the idol of retirement. Day after day we teach our children the values of an American culture that has drifted so far from its heritage as to be more recognizable with a hedonistic humanism then with a God centered Christianity. We see little family devotions,  little prayer and little sincere spiritual outreach.

Yet in Church we speak of salvation, sacrifice and service to a God we hardly know and love even less. We convince ourselves that we have pleased the God who created us because we have given Him a couple hours of quasi-attention in church attendance and ministry service. We convince ourselves we have done our part to raise our children spiritually because we have dropped them off at Sunday school or youth group. And so it goes week in and week out as we move from God-mode to home mode to work mode molding ourselves into the environmental requirements of the moment. 

For the truly saved this is a recipe for constant frustration. At the bottom of this compartmentalization there is a terrible lack that haunts us...an emptiness that can never be filled by doubling down on our vocational success, private possessions or ministry involvement. Make no mistake prayer was kicked out of our schools because it was no longer welcome in our homes. God was shunned in our society because He was shunned in our living rooms and bedrooms. Cold churches are the product of cold homes that produce leaders that know little of the God of whom they preach and teach.

Only a radical commitment to Christ which brings every sphere of our lives into a God centered, God manifesting act of worship will relieve our soul agony. Our homes must be dedicated to this principle of living out Christ in the way we communicate, make plans and use our time. Songs of God instead of the world should fill our hearts and homes. Devotions should replace our endless pursuit of mindless pleasure. Prayer should be as natural as eating our necessary food.

From these God saturated home will come God saturated husbands and wives and children that spread this passion to our churches and that influence our secular institutions.

If we are to see any revival poured out upon Gods people in America I am convinced we are going to have to first bring our homes back under the simply worshipful obedience of the Word of God in sincerity and truth.