What characteristics mark your home life? Do the rhythms of family life reflect a healthy and biblical understanding of your immediate family, the church, and the world? In a recent post on the Ligonier Ministries website, John Tweeddale gives us an important reminder:
When thinking through a theology of home, there are two equal but opposite errors that we must avoid. In the first place, we must not give the impression that life at home in a fallen world is everything. When we do, we are guilty of a misappropriated eschatology. Yes, we must tend to the gardens of our homes. But we must also populate the pews of the church and venture onto the highways of the world. The command of Jesus to “go” in the Great Commission pushes those of us who are tempted to withdraw into the quiet habitats of home to see that when we settle for heaven on earth, we domesticate the kingdom according to our tastes and traditions…
If one tendency we have is to idealize (and idolize) the home, then the other mistake we must avoid is marginalizing it. We must not give the impression that life at home in a fallen world means nothing. This is the error of an overly privatized sociology. In the modern world, we have fallen into the deathly trap of believing that who we are in private has little to no bearing on what we do in public. Conviction and character are severed from policy and productivity. As a result, what someone does in the confines of the home is viewed as irrelevant to success in the workplace. As Christians, however, we understand that the prayer closet and the kitchen table are vital places for developing excellence in every area of life…
The home is not a neutral zone for acting upon baseless desires, nor is it simply a bastion for maintaining traditional values. One of the primary purposes of the home is to cultivate Christlike virtues that animate who we are in private and facilitate what we do in public…
(“Worldview at Home,” www.ligonier.org)
I would encourage you to read the entire article here.(Image courtesy of everydayplus at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)
