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Habits of the household • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
Matthew 18:3 “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
I cannot tell you how often I hear requests form my children to play and to pretend. They love when I get on all fours and run around the house with them.
They love to imagine and pretend that which is not real. They have simple faith and believe without hesitation that there is a God and that He loves them.
Our faith is very similar. We are called to believe in things we cannot see. How many of us have seen Jesus face to face? Yet our whole life is based on the fact that Jesus did exist.
How can our kids believe in the resurrection if they only believe the things they see.
When our children exercise their God-given imagination, they resist the idea that life is more than just what’s right in front of them.
1 John 5:19 “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”
We live in a world surrounded by wickedness. But when our kids imagine and play they escape the world for what it is. They are kept innocent of the wickedness around them for a bit longer.
And BTW, Innocence is a gift from God. The world and the sin that is in it, slowly takes that away.
Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: But a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
Proverbs 15:13 “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”
Proverbs 15:15 “All the days of the afflicted are evil: But he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.”
Good playtime brings about great joy. And obviously this looks different to kids at different ages. To Garrett and Shane that could be jumping on the dirt bike. To landon and Logan, that may be reconstructing a go kart and piling on as many of their siblings as possible. To Jr, that may be kung-fu three times a week. And of course to Haven and her sisters, that’s riding around on their dad’s back.
But joy comes from a merry heart.
Habit 1 - Read Imaginative stories
Habit 1 - Read Imaginative stories
We are all born with imagination. But this world has a way of sucking it out of us and causing us to accept what we see as the norm. Imaginative stories are a way of enchanting a disenchanted world.
Without imagination how do we read Isaiah 55:12 “. . . The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” and Revelation 19:11 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. . .”
We need imaginations in order to understand some of the things in the Scriptures. Most of the book of Revelation takes an active imagination to read.
So how do we exercise that imagination? We read imaginative stories that mirror the spiritual truths of the Bible. Courage in the midst of fear, Sacrificial love, overcoming evil, death as the ultimate enemy.
Habit 2 - Accept their invitations to play
Habit 2 - Accept their invitations to play
There are some activities in my life that I genuinely enjoy. working out is one of them. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I decided to jump into the gym business with both feet. But here is the crazy thing that happeend. I was regularly going to the gym every week, multiple times a week. . . until I bought a gym. Once I bought a gym, I felt so compelled to make that gym better and Things were not calm and were not in order for a long time. However, when I sold two of the gyms and went down to one, things became balanced and put back in order in my life. And you know what followed, a regular workout program.
Playing with our kids is a similar sign that things are going well in our household. Theres always going to be something better to do than playing with our kids. This is why we need to set rhythms of giving our kids our undistracted attention. (turn off phone, put phone in a different room).
Spending time with our kids in good-natured fun activities is important and must be a priority. Go outside rain or shine, make time for outings, run around and get dirty. And while we can’t do this all the time, we can have rhythms of play built into our week.
Habit 3 - Practice the habit of sabbath
Habit 3 - Practice the habit of sabbath
In a world that puts achievement and work ahead of most other things, stopping and resting is a rebellious act against that viewpoint.
Have a rhythme of rest each week
Have a rhythm of worshipping as a community.
Leave a legacy
Leave a legacy
We can give our kids the gift of a great legacy if we’ll put into practice habits of play, rest, and work.
