An Appeal to Fathers and Mothers
Why all the doubt? Why all the unbelief? Perhaps the most common objection that unbelievers make against Christianity is when inconsistency is found in its professed followers. Isaiah 4:1 symbolically depicts a people stubbornly wanting their own lifestyle instead of the one marked out by Christ—yet still claiming His name, because they feel it is popular or fashionable to do so. Indeed, such hypocrisy has long been a stumbling block to the unbelieving world—but especially to the growing children of these professed believers.
It has been observed that over 70% of young adults professing Christianity will leave their parents’ church—and essentially their faith—not long after they leave their parents’ home. Current statistics show that today, many or even most are not coming back. Why?
In the winter 2012 issue of Christianity Today, young people surveyed gave various reasons for their departure—reasons that revealed a superficial, emotional, entertainment-based religion that was not well grounded in deep biblical understanding nor convincingly brought into practical life.
Shall we change this disturbing trend?
What does it mean to have a reformation in the human experience? It means to make, to build, to form again the fallen, erring character in a new way. How? Through the creative power of the Creator Himself. The promise is sure: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Through the power of God’s word enshrined in the heart, the life is to be transformed, because “the word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature.”1
If our nature is remade from within, it will shine forth naturally to those around us. On the other hand, if we try to paste some good works on the outside and think that with this we can make a good show to fool others, we ourselves are the ones who are fooled. Real reformation must come from within—and is possible only through the power of God and submission to His will and ways.
What does this have to do with the home life? At home we are who we really are. The psalmist who yearned for a genuinely pure life made the pledge, “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart” (Psalm 101:2). Not just when he was in public—but when he was at home with his family.
As individual families, let us view, then, the following declaration as a personal call to action: “The restoration and uplifting of humanity begins in the home. The work of parents underlies every other. Society is composed of families, and is what the heads of families make it. Out of the heart are ‘the issues of life’ (Proverbs 4:23); and the heart of the community, of the church, and of the nation is the household. The well-being of society, the success of the church, the prosperity of the nation, depend upon home influences.”2
“Home should be made all that the word implies. It should be a little heaven upon earth, a place where the affections are cultivated instead of being studiously repressed.”3 Let us arise and rebuild such homes!