When my husband and I first married, our apartment was filled with hand-me-downs. Dishes from a grandmother, a rocking chair from his mother, and lamps from my parents filled our space. We were full-time students living on part-time wages and there was nothing left after bills for anything new.
We really didn’t mind the hand-me-down items, and lived contentedly with them for years. However, we weren’t content with a hand-me-down faith.
It would have been easy to accept the beliefs and religious practices of our families, especially since both my husband and I have a rich legacy of faith passed down from our grandparents. We grew up in church, and could have easily brought those traditions into our home.
Yet we both longed to create our own home and life together, and knew that meant understanding and embracing the faith of our childhood for ourselves. We wanted more than simply accepting our parents’ beliefs. Not that they were bad, but it would have been shallow to have done so without any thought.
As we set up our first home, humble as it was, we started creating our own spiritual practices that continue to this day. The first was to make attending church a non-negotiable in our week. We wanted to make church a habit no matter our emotional or physical state. Unless we were sick, we are in church. We’d seen too many friends fall out of the habit, and knew how easy that would be unless we made it happen.
The second was to have an early bedtime the night before church. We wanted to eliminate the excuse of being too tired to attend, and to gain everything we could from our time of corporate worship. To this day, our teenage children know Saturday night will end by 11:00 at the latest.
We also have invested in current Bibles in easy-to-read translations and other Christian literature like devotions and books. Our library has grown slowly and surely over the years as we have added books by the heroes of our faith and current authors applying forever truths to today’s world. We don’t see these as extravagances, but as an investment in our faith.
I also find that it helps immensely to have Scripture placed around my home. Keeping God’s Word before my eyes helps give me perspective, peace, and hope. And it reminds me to turn to God for all my needs.
Other faith practices my husband and I have built into the framework of our home and life include saying grace before meals and praying at night with our children. The final one I want to mention has influenced us greatly. That is meeting with other Christians in our home. Throughout our marriage, we have tried to live out the Acts model of church.
Acts 2:46b-47 paints this picture: “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (NIV). We have hosted small groups for year, and currently lead one now in our home. Our faith has grown as we have lived life with other believers in this way.
As you establish your own home, it’s good to evaluate your faith and how you live it out every day. Give sincere thought to the practices you can start now, in whatever home you find yourself. You’ll discover that your own faith is a much better fit than any hand-me-down faith will ever be.
Hi Glynnis, my children are raised now, and I loved your insight on practical ways to keep God first in the home. I also tried to keep Christian music playing softly in my home. When my daughter was home, she took up this practice, and she kept our home full of praises to God as she sang along with the artist.
On Wednesdays, our children often had to take their homework to church with us, and would finish it on the pew bench. We kept outside school activities to 1 per semester, as long as it did not regularly conflict with church services.
When our daughter was in college, we continued to encourage her to allow God to direct her life, by only taking part time jobs that allowed her to be off on Sundays (she was not in the health care field at that time). God always provided her a job with Sundays off, which was a faith builder for her, and now a testimony!
Thanks for your article!
Janice