Building A Christian Home In A Worldly Environment

Building a Christian Home in a Worldly Environment

The world is such a delicate place to live for the Christian that is heavenly minded because the things that are in the world as the scripture describes it are: the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes. Most of the things around here that make for enjoyment are highly sensual and deadly and there are so many distractions from the right track of life.

Building up a family that is Godly in a worldly environment is like building up a house of mud in torrential rain or setting up a canopy camp when the wind is boisterous. The challenges facing the building of a Christian home in today world are quite challenging and difficult. There is no amount of policing a parent can do to shield the children completely from the juicy and temptation and the attraction that the way of men offers.

The agents of corruption and socialization so to say are too many to be tamed. The audio-visual teaches the younger and the adult things they never wished to learn and even if you refused to have one in your home there are a thousand of them on the street used for adverts and they are so strategically positioned for your attention. The rhythm of music has no respect for anyone. Unconsciously you will sometimes find yourself shaking to the rhythm of music coming from the musician you hate to associate with.

There are other types of influences coming from your immediate neighbourhood. What you are trying to keep away from your family is at the next door and taunted to your family as if to say there is nothing wrong with these after all. Most of the things we are teaching our children never to do is being done by our neighbours and children with impunity to the extent that a time comes when the person playing the role of a teacher becomes confused and disillusioned.

There are other issues affecting the family building; these are interpersonal relationship at home. The relationship and mode of behavior of the members of a particular family can make or mar the proper building up of that home. The challenges of modern job: closing late at office; sexual advances and temptations from colleagues; and suspicion from spouses are issues that cannot be ignored.

Also there is a kind of frustration in the world because of the inability of man to predict accurately his future and to see the hidden things that others are not willing to reveal. A lot of wrong assumptions and judgments are made about others that are not completely true and we use these as yardsticks for measuring people and their behaviours.

What then can we do in the midst of all these to build up a Godly family in a corrupt world? Jesus offers us solution in Matthew 10: 16 and I quote:

16 ¶ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Our Lord Jesus offers just two solutions: wisdom and peace

We can solve most of the modern day challenges if we abide by these two solutions. The book of proverbs 9:1-6 tells us that wisdom has seven pillars and I want to begin to discuss what each of these pillars mean to me.

Wisdom to me is patience, perseverance and willingness to learn. An impatience man cannot build a family and if by chance he builds one he will sooner or later pull it down himself by what he does and what he fails to do.

Wisdom makes you learn from the breakthrough or mistake of others. It is only a fool who would refuse to learn from others. Do not imagine that you can ever be an island to yourself in matters of learning, the little knowledge learnt here and there will be to you an added advantage. There was this story of a power drunken Alafin of Oyo Kingdom who made impossible demands from the youth of Ile Ife. He was asking them to make for him a rope of clay for riding his horse and failure to meet his demand would mean death to them all. Days gone by and no one knows how to make a rope of clay. One of the youth went to an elderly person to seek for advice and the old man said tell the Alafin of Oyo to show you the sample of the broken one which he had. Since the Alafin’s demand was a ruse that could not be met, the request of the youth also could not be met. The wisdom from the old man saved them from annihilation. If you are having problem with building up your family try doing it with wisdom from others and you will succeed.