It’s a common question, and understandably so. What Christian parents wouldn’t want to do this? Which is why I’m so happy to present this sure-fire method to you all. Please feel free to share it far and wide. Here’s what you need to do. First, gather you’re whole family together. Make sure you don’t leave any behind. Now, lead them to any door that leads outside of the house. Open the door. At this point what you do is walk through the door, you and the rest of the family. As the last person passes through they should reach back, grasp the handle and pull the door shut. Now your home is pure from negative spiritual influences.
It is certainly true enough that bad company can corrupt good morals, that the people we spend time with can have a profound influence on us. I’m not arguing that wise parenting involves surrounding our children with the worst sinners imaginable. I am, however, suggesting that it is quite possible to wisely remember the importance of sheltering our families from the influences of the world and at the same time remember that we’ve already failed and worse still, we are, each one of us, a negative influence. The counter argument to sheltering in the extreme is not “Jesus hung out with sinners” but “Jesus hangs out with me, a sinner.” A perfect environment does not make for perfect behavior. Our first parents demonstrated that. The problem isn’t ultimately the world out there so much as it is the sin in here.
When we teach our children, explicitly, or more likely, implicitly, that they are the pure ones and those on the outside, or worse still, those believers who have been widely shaped by the world the impure ones, we teach them the worst possible lie, that they don’t need Jesus. We raise them up to pray, “I thank you Lord that I am not like other men…” rather than, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Spiritual pride is far more dangerous than the loony ideologies, or the carnal sensuality of the unbelieving world. This doesn’t mean the world’s ideologies are not loony, nor its sensuality not carnal. It means all of us are plenty bad in ourselves. Our only hope isn’t to escape from others but to repent of ourselves.
When Jesus lives in our homes we are not especially interested in how much better we might be than other sinners. That He loves us, dwells with us, directs us, despite our own manifold moral flaws, is a picture of how we might love others. Not in embracing sin or excusing it. Not in diminishing the law of God. But by celebrating the grace of God. Our prayer is that when those outside the kingdom enter into our homes they are not overwhelmed by how good we are, but are stunned by how repentant we are. And by how fully we believe the glorious truth that we are forgiven. We are, after all, nothing more than beggars telling other beggars about the Bread of Life.
Good contemplation’s and well stated.
Very good and wise advise. I appreciate your God-given wisdom. This makes so much sense and it came at a very opportune time. Thank You.
Thank you John for the encouraging word.