Keep Those Home Fires Burning
Thursday, February 22, 2024
“Let your faith begin at home.” – C.H. Spurgeon
A dear friend of mine who spent decades in full-time ministry once told me that when his children were young, he accepted every preaching opportunity that he was offered. That meant there were quite a few nights where he wasn’t home to read his kids a bedtime story and say a prayer before tucking them into bed. Likewise, he was often away on weekends, preaching in a church or speaking at a conference.
Years later, after his children were grown and on their own, he regretted having lost such precious time with them. Kind of like Martha, he had allowed the tyranny of the urgent to supersede the importance of more high-minded concerns.
“Dale,” he would lovingly counsel me, “don’t repeat my mistake. Instead, try to live a balanced life.”
I have done my best to heed my friend’s wise advice and I guess the proof is in the pudding. Today, all three of our children are well-adjusted adults who know the Lord as their Savior and are attending Bible-teaching churches. My fervent prayer is that they will likewise raise their children in the “training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
Like charity, faith begins at home… just like Charles Spurgeon says.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (ESV)
“But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to show godliness to their own family and repay their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God… Now if anyone does not provide for the own, and especially his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” I Timothy 5:4 & 8 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
