08/04/2023
Failure. It’s an ugly word and one most people will go to great lengths to avoid speaking of or admitting to. That’s the reality though, isn’t it? We live and endure through difficulty and failure, but that doesn’t often appear to be the case to those on the outside looking in. We sojourn in a world where reality is often hidden behind a mask. We see a facade through social media with a well cultivated image to represent a picture of something that is far from being accurate and honest. The modern world appears to live by the plan that says, “Don’t show or admit failure, don’t acknowledge you struggle, hide the difficulty.”
Unfortunately, this is taking place even in the professing church. Well cultivated social media pages of “celebrity” christians portraying a life of ease and a picture perfect family with faultless children are what you see with every scroll through the feed. This is not reality. We all live in a fallen world and often struggle with what the Puritans referred to as the remainders of indwelling sin.
I’m going to be very transparent and honest. I live with failure and setback. Praise God the victory does not rest on my ability, but the perfection of Christ. One of the areas where I struggled most in my younger years was in my personal time to study God’s Word. That’s when weariness hit, the phone rang, or one of the numerous other distractions of a busy life tried to turn my attention away from things of eternal value to something of temporal importance.
And history has also taught me, there seems to be only one thing more difficult, that being family worship. When something is so important, the flesh, the devil, and the world will do everything imaginable to interfere. I won’t even pretend or try and portray that this has been an area of great success in my life. What I can say, without reservation, is some of the most amazing moments and memorable evenings for me are centered around times when my family has been gathered together, looking to God’s Word. Time when the gospel of Jesus Christ and the beauty of God’s Grace is laid open and discussed with one another. And why should that surprise us, when God’s Word teaches us the importance and value of our time in the Word?
My kids need to hear the gospel. My wife needs to hear the gospel. I need to hear the gospel!We need to hear the gospel together and we need to hear it daily. I sometimes fear professing christians go to hear the Word on Sunday and starve for the other six days. Family Worship feeds the family with spiritual food throughout the week and blesses us with ample opportunities to speak of God’s grace and mercy, man’s need, and the work of Christ on the sinner’s behalf to redeem sinful man and to reconcile them to a holy God. What a privilege and honor to experience this together and what a terrible thing that we often neglect this opportunity and let other things take precedence.
Over the past couple of weeks my family and I have been using the Family Worship Bible Guide from Reformation Heritage Books. It has been a true blessing as we have met together to worship. It contains at least one devotional thought and question for every chapter in the Bible. My family and I have read a few chapters from both Old and New Testament passages and every one of the devotional thoughts and questions have been biblically sound and thought provoking which has led to wonderful discussion and continued meditation from the readings.
I’ve found that time constraints are often a factor in the failure of being consistent in family worship. This book helps immensely with that. On nights when we have been pressed, we have been able to worship together, despite the limited time. Since the guide encompasses the whole Bible and contains theologically sound thoughts and questions, this will be an incredible resource for those who were not exposed to family worship while growing up, but now see the incredible need for it as they begin their own families. All together I would highly recommend this guide for every family.
This is sure to become a gift I will give to many around me as they start their own families. I pray it will be an encouragement to them, to be more faithful throughout their lives, in an area where I have experienced times of struggle and failure.
