Parenting 101 Part 5 - Time to Keep House

Joshua Boyd

Continuing our series Parenting 101 this morning, let’s build off the previous topic of imitating those who imitate Christ.  If you aren’t sure how to act or what to say, watch someone else who does.  Just as a child imitates their parents, we should both be the proper example for others to imitate by finding examples to mirror.  

In church, imitate those who are imitating God.  Listen to their testimonies and learn their patterns. Find those in the Bible who trusted God in situations and were triumphant, then imitate them.  It takes humility to do something someone else is doing.  Pride wants to do its own thing, it wants the credit.  Humility submits.  

God is a God of order.  In creation, in the church and in our homes, order brings His presence.  Chaos and strife send Him away.  God keeps order in His house.  Like a good parent, He expects His children to listen and obey.  We can find that the vessels who God selected for the Master’s use, were the ones who kept their own house in order.  Don’t think that it is important?  Let’s take a look.  

Abraham

Genesis 18:17-19

17 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

God needed someone who would pass down the commands and teachings of the Lord.  He knew that what He promised Abraham would take generations to complete, so if those generations were trained, God’s purpose could continue through them.  What was the defining trait that God was looking for on the earth?  Someone who was faithful to train his children.