Topic: IS THERE A HOME IN THE HOUSE?
THEME SCRIPTURE:
1 Timothy 5:14 (KJV)
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
MESSAGE:
Before I became a teenager, I read a gospel tract, titled, “Is there a home in the house?” Although I didn’t know much at that young age, I knew from that gospel tract, that, one could have a house, and may not have a home in the house.
A home is the social unit formed by a family living together. When one has been battered by the storms of life after a hard day’s work, there’s no better place to run to than the home, to find rest and comfort. A home is the place of life and energy; it is the place one resorts to and gets refreshed. But when a husband and wife have become independent of each other, instead of being interdependent, and there’s virtually no communication, can we say there’s a home in the house?
From our theme Scripture, Apostle Paul encourages widows who are younger to marry, bear children, guide the house, and give the adversary no occasion to speak reproachfully. The phrase, “guide the house” is from a Greek word which also means, “rule a household” or “manage family affairs.” This gives us the idea that, the wife is the ruler of the household; she is the manager of family affairs. In other words, wives are home builders. However, if it takes a man and a woman to marry; if it takes the two to bear children, then, it takes their mutual effort to build a home.
This is why husbands are to love their wives; husbands must be committed to the well-being of their wives. This is why husbands are to provide their wives all the necessary support. A husband may succeed in suppressing his wife, but so long as he keeps the home builder under his feet, he won’t have his peace either.
It takes husband and wife to begin a family. It takes the two to build a home. It takes their mutual love and submission to make a happy home. It takes their continuous communication and active cooperation with each other, to make a lively home. A couple may have every physical and material need, but if they don’t understand the purpose of marriage nor observe the marriage covenant, they may live in the same house but may not have a home in the house. That marriage will not be different from two different tenants living in the same house.
