Did you know that 60% of our Christian homes today do not have a family altar?
In colonial days, the Word of God was read and cherished and the home was the centre of the spiritual and religious life of each family. Broken homes and divorce were scarcely heard of.
In the Old Testament, God not only exhorted but commanded that His Word was to be diligently taught to the children by their parents. God’s Word was not found on a printed page but was passed down from generation to generation.
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9 KJV
God has given His supreme plan for the home in the New Testament. Fathers are instructed to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4 KJV
Today, we are in an age of higher learning and prosperity, does this take the place of God’s Word in the home? Are our homes of a higher standard and more closely knit together through education and material gain?
Statistics give the answers; delinquency is rising at an alarming rate and broken homes and divorce are more frequent every day.
No, the family altar is not out of date. The home of tomorrow will depend upon what we give the children of today. The age-old saying remains as true as it was on the day it was first uttered, “The family that prays together, stays together.”
—Written by Sylvia Quist (Third-year student at FGBI) printed in End Times’ Messenger June 1959.