Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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 FAMILY: Replica of the Kingdom of God

Psalms 128
Vs.1: “Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him" 

Family is the foundation where society is built, that which forms the basis for the values that an individual carries with them in their entire life. But retaining the sanctity, fellowship, love, care, and security a family gives has become so challenging these days. Our families are far from the replica of the Kingdom of God.

Psalm 128, known as the Song of Ascents, begins with the reason why we fail to build the replica of the Kingdom of God in our families.

1) Fear of the Lord
Many thinkers have expressed that we are not supposed to fear our Lord but love Him, which is right to a significant extent. Yet, let me ask you all. When is it that we feel the emotion called FEAR? Either when there is a life-threatening situation or when there could be a negative consequence for an action of ours. So when we say that we fear our Lord, it is an acknowledgment that we believe in the Lord and we also believe that He will punish us for a wrong action of ours. But most of our actions do not emerge out of this acknowledgment. We believe every moment of our life that our actions will never lead to any negative consequences. And so how many of us fear our Lord that he will punish us for our wrong actions in this world and the world to come. If we did, we would have lived differently.

So if our families do not turn out to be a replica of the Kingdom of God, it's because the elders of the family do not fear the Lord.

2) Walking in obedience to Him
In order to walk in obedience to Him, we need to understand the depths of His commandments, we need to meditate on the Word of God. But how much time do we spend seeking his wisdom as we read through the verses of the Bible? And complete obedience is when we are able to act, speak and think as our Lord wants us to. Most of us are able to control our actions that might be harmful to another person but are we able to overcome negative thoughts towards one another in our heart and mind. That's where we live our lives in complete obedience being fearful of our Lord.

Christian living is a journey where we correct ourselves each day, each moment as we come closer to God. And in the journey we become partakers in building the Kingdom of God around us. May our Lord help us all in the journey.
 
Prayer
Abba Father, help us build our families through complete submission to Your Will. Amen 

Elizabeth Johnson
The Mar Thoma Church, Staten Island

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