“He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.” Psalm 78:5-8
We know many places in Scripture where it discusses how the faith should be passed on to the next generation. We are to teach the truths of our faith to the next generation so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God.
In the December New Horizons there was an article on family worship entitled, An Introduction to Family Worship. I encourage you to stop reading this Weekly Thought and go read that article and then come back to this thought.
Here is the link: https://opc.org/cce/feature.html
The author gives some good thoughts as we move into the new year regarding our worship of God and habits that we can better develop. The underlined statements come from the article with a few thoughts of my own to follow for each one.
1) The foundation of family worship is private or ‘secret’ worship. Regardless of the size of your household. Whether you are one or many, I encourage you to devote more time this year to be in God’s Word. Read and meditate on it. Set a goal to read through all of the Bible. Spend some time in prayer seeking to apply what you’ve read to your life. Finally, sing to the Lord songs of praise.
2) Family worship ordinarily consists of three main parts: prayer and praise, reading the scriptures, and edifying conversation. We have developed a habit of reading scripture in our home and praying together, but in 2021 I want to focus more on praise. Singing to the Lord. And that our conversations would grow and deepen in God’s Word. Again, if it is just you in your home engage in conversation with your fellow church members about God’s Word during the week. Ask what others are reading from day to day. That may be some of the best encouragement to those who are feeling lonely in this time of isolation.
3) Heads of households should lead their families in understanding the Scriptures. Men the buck stops with you. Take the lead. Be encouraged to share what you know and to study more so that you can better share with your family and with others.
4) Heads of households have a special duty to direct their families in public and private worship on the Lord’s Day. I know that 2020 has made physical attendance difficult for some, but for most let us recommit to be present at the public worship services of the Church. And let us recommit to set aside the Lord’s Day.
5) Family worship ought to take precedence over all worldly business and activities. Life is busy! We get caught up in many things. At the end of our lives, I doubt we will worry about earning one more dollar or entertaining ourselves more. Let us devote more of our time and our more of our energy in the upcoming year to those things that are eternal.
I bookmarked the link in the article to the directory for family worship so that I could access it to read later. Whether or not you are a head of household or not we can all benefit by God’s Word, prayer, and praise. I want to encourage you in continuing to develop those habits in the upcoming year.
In our household all of my children are adults now, so we are at a new stage in our lives. There are still adult children in my home and we still make efforts at family worship as we are able. May God sustain us all as we move into 2021 with great joy and great anticipation as to what our Lord will do.