Asked to define a home, one person said: “A place where there is a roof to keep out rain, four walls to keep out the wind; floors to keep out the cold, yes, but a home is so much more. It is the laugh of a baby, the song of a mother, the strength of a father. Warmth of loving hearts, light from happy eyes, kindness, loyalty, comradeship. Home is the first school and the first church for the young ones, where they learn what is right, what is good, and what is kind. Where they go for comfort when they are hurt or sick; where joy is shared and sorrow eased. Where fathers and mothers are respected and loved. Where children are wanted. Where the simplest food is good enough for kings because it is earned. Where money is not so important as loving-kindness. Where even the teakettle sings from happiness. That is home. God bless it.” (Ernestine Schuman-Heink)
Remember the “nuclear family?” That was a family, common in the 1950s and 60s, comprised of a father and mother with their own biological or adopted children. But, beginning in the 70s and 80s, that compact household began to break down. More and more families in those decades were headed by a single parent due to a rising divorce rate. Today, 39% of marriages end in divorce. Infidelity and finances are the most common causes. The average marriage that ends in divorce lasts about 8 years. In 2023, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) reported that there were 674,000 divorces in the United States, which is down from a previous high of one million divorces (annually) in recent decades. In 2022, 39.8 percent of births in the U.S. were “out of wedlock,” versus 18 percent in 1980. Patrick Fagan, sociologist, says that “it is now a widely accepted premise that children born into single-parent families are much more likely than children born into intact families to fall into poverty and welfare dependency.” One could add crime and violence to the list of pitfalls more common to children born into single-parent families.
The family that prays together is even more uncommon. Studies show that where there is a Mom and Dad in the home, both of them attending church regularly, their children will also remain spiritually faithful in 72% of cases. Where only Dad attends church, 55% will remain faithful to church. If only Mom attends, the percentage drops to 15; and where neither Mom nor Dad remain attached faithfully to a church, just 6% of the children will attend church faithfully as adults.
The old-time evangelist knew something about what it takes to make a house a home when he said, “You can stand anything when you have a peaceful home. It does not matter how hard life is if you have a little place called ‘Home Sweet Home’—a little place where everybody loves everybody. Oh, it may not be a rich home, you know. It does not have to be rich, just a home where there is love, understanding, gentleness, kindness, and patience—and the authority vested in the head of the family. Oh, yes, there will be some ups and downs. If a man tells me he never had a cross word with his wife, I know there is something wrong with one of them. I am not going to lie about it: I have been married forty-nine years, and that is a long time to stick to one woman and never lose your temper! But you know, it has been pretty wonderful. What would life be without each other? What would it be? No children, no mother, no father, no home?
“Say, how about fixing yours up like it ought to be? You know, Jesus can fix it. He met the chief of the publicans at Jericho, looked up at him in the tree and invited himself home with him for dinner. I will venture that home was never the same after that—never the same again.” (Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.)
In 1677 a man who was notoriously immoral married a woman of like character, and 1,900 descendants came from that union. 771 were criminals; 250 were arrested for various offenses; 60 were convicted thieves; and 39 were murderers. This family spent 1,300 years behind bars, collectively, and cost the state of New York millions of dollars.
About the same time, Jonathan Edwards—the famous preacher, who became president of Princeton—began a family line. 1,334 descendants were born and traced to this line. Many of them became college presidents or professors. 186 became preachers, and many were active church members. 86 were senators; three were congressmen; 30 were judges, and one became vice-president of the United States. None of them spent any time in jail, nor were any of them an extra expense to the state. (copied)
One final, profound thought that “Prof” Howard (Howie) Hendricks—who taught at Dallas Theological Seminary for sixty years—shared with a class of preachers in training: “Your home is not apart from your ministry; it is part of your ministry.”
Home, Sweet Home. Let us strive to promote, preach, and propagate the Biblical model of a home that is truly sweet because of His prevailing and pure love!
“Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it…Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” (Ps. 127:1,3)
YOU and GOD 