How important IS regular family worship?

We have a friend who is a native missionary in Bihar, India. He is a church-planter, etc. in India – Rev. E.A. Abraham of ECFC Ministries.

His conversion is an amazing story, which you can hear in part in the video at the bottom of this post (my in-laws are the others sharing in the video).

On multiple occasions his life has been threatened for preaching the gospel. In fact, one time a man showed up at his house with a gun, ready to kill him. But by God’s grace, the man left without doing any harm.

Abraham can tell you stories along the line of any you’ve heard about. It truly is amazing to hear of God’s great provision, protection, and providence.

A guest for Christmas

This Christmas season we were blessed to have Abraham’s daughter, Princy stay with us over  Christmas week. She is a student at Denver Seminary and was unable to return to India for the holidays, so we invited her to stay with us for a few days.

Having Princy in our home, I was very curious what her home life must have been like. I was curious about the comparison between a home like ours where there is very little persecution, and a home like hers where the culture is often hostile to her faith.

I was curious how she had been raised to be the delightful, God-fearing, ministry-minded young lady she is, with those kinds of difficulties all around.

On Christmas day, I had a conversation with her that impressed something I’ve long believed, on my heart in a new way.

My conversation with Princy…

We talked for a while, but the following is the section that stuck out to me…

I asked Princy whether her parents led her and her brother in some kind of family devotional or family worship time on a regular basis while she was growing up.

Here’s what she said…

Every day.

It seems that her parents knew something that we tend to forget. Our children need regular exposure to the word of God, and the opportunity to understand and discuss it with their parents. The word of God doesn’t invade our souls by accident.

I’m sure that living in a culture that is hostile to their faith impressed that need on them even more. They knew that in order for their children to be stable and secure in their faith, they needed to be grounded in it firmly and regularly.

That’s the way God has planned it from the beginning (check out Deuteronomy 6:5-9). It’s the way faith is supposed to be passed on.

Soft, wimpy, and looking for the “easiest path”

Comparing the faith of those of us in the western world, with the faith of those in places like India, or North Korea helps me gain some much needed perspective.

Here’s my conclusion:

I think most of us in the western world are way too complacent about this issue. We think it’s being “legalistic” to insist on even a weekly family worship time.

It’s not legalistic, it’s prudent… and it’s for the name and fame of Christ being spread faithfully through the stewardship of our own families.

We are soft, wimpy, and unwilling to put in the effort needed to teach our children the most important truths in the universe.

They are the truths that will…

• Transform their hearts and minds
• Keep their souls for eternity
• Make their lives useable in God’s kingdom purposes
• Enable our families to produce faith that lasts for generations to come

My “take away” about family worship

I am convicted anew to make sure that I’m diligently teaching my own children… that I’m authentically modeling a love for the LORD and the scriptures.

I want my family to be one that passes on a generational legacy of radical Christian faith that lasts for generations.

Because when/if the LORD allows persecution to strike my culture, I want to have done everything I could to see that my children were ready to honor the LORD in it.

Enjoy hearing what the LORD has done in Abraham’s life…
[vimeo 36575166 w=500 h=281]

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