Favorite Proverbs: Proverb 15:16-17…
“Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred.”
This has to be one of our top ten. If you are recently married, you’d better get this truth into your home before the kids come along and you find yourselves in a dark place. It has to be instilled consistently and early: A godly, Christ-centered home where we love one another will always be vastly better than a house with wealth accompanied by trouble, hatred and disobedience to God.
Think right now about your career. What are you trying to accomplish with that employment? What is the greater meaning of this work? Is work the most important thing in your life? Does that job support your family or does your family support the job?
Does harmony and contentment thrive in your home because Jesus lives there and is the center of all you do? Finish this statement: When harmony breaks down in my home it is usually caused by ________________. In many cases you will find that, behind whatever you wrote in the blank, is an emphasis on something material rather than a priority on pleasing God.
I try to pour this principle into the hearts of people in pre-marriage counseling. The value and size of a house doesn’t reveal the amount of happiness dwelling inside. Happiness can thrive in a shack as well as a mansion. Never assume that where there is wealth there is joy, because they often don’t live in the same place.
Our Lord said “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Contentment is in prioritizing His kingdom and your place in it.
In your meditation times today, add this important proverb. Sometime during the day, read it to your family, explain it, and let your children know this is the driving thesis of your home.
Family Bible Time with Glenn and Cindy:
Matthew 5:31ff (continued)
Jesus said “I was in prison and you came unto me.”
- Read Matthew 26:47-56 to your children and find out what the disciples did when Jesus was actually arrested–when he became an innocent prisoner. They became so afraid that they reacted in a way that we don’t ever want to imitate. How does Jesus tell us, as His disciples, in our Matthew 25 text that we can be with Jesus when He is in prison?
- Of course, most of us today in the United States cannot visit a prison during a pandemic, since there are restrictions against such. In fact, it is difficult to gain permission to enter at any time. But we can certainly, right now, support the prison ministers we know who have given/give lots of hours and experience physical and emotional stress as they visit and teach the gospel in prisons. Tonight, have your children write letters of thanks and encouragement to a prison minister that you know. If you do not know one, let me recommend a faithful one for your children to write. Have your younger children draw pictures. This will encourage our brother who has devoted years to a prison work here in Huntsville.
Mr. George Coffell
c/o West Huntsville church of Christ
1519 Old Monrovia Road NW
Huntsville, AL 35806
If you have the Hannah’s Hundred CD, sing the Matthew 25 song once more along with the Matthew 5:16 song. Pray with your children. Remember to pray for the prisoners in our land; that the gospel may be taught to those who are in need of salvation and who may listen to the Word.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
