5 Things that make a Christ-centered home. It isn’t so much about things as it is the atmosphere; truth, grace, love, service, forgiveness.
During Jesus’ ministry, he was a walking, talking, living example of hospitality and nurture. Yet, he had no where to lay his head and was always on the move.
It wasn’t a Pinterest-worthy decorated home that drew people. The Gospel drew people in. Jesus does.
What Makes Your Home Christ-Centered
In order to have a Gospel-centered home, lets first remind ourselves of the Gospel.
You and I are sinners. We are hell-bound sinners living apart from God. Or we were rather. God determined to make a way for us to be reconciled to Him, because of His grace and mercy. God promised from the beginning that He would send a Savior to redeem His people.
So God became flesh. He came as a humble baby and lived a sinless life so that He could become the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. He bore the wrath of God for our sin and our shame, died on the cross in our place and was buried for three days.
But then! Then He conquered death and rose on that third day! He has ascended to heaven at the right hand of God and will return again for His people! He did all of this so that those who repent from their sin and believe on Jesus Christ can be reconciled to God and life an eternal life with Him in heaven.
SO HOW DOES THIS MESSAGE FILL OUR HOMES?
You could go to Hobby Lobby and purchase beautiful scripture décor to fill your home with. You could even DIY some of your very own. Deuteronomy 6:9 even tells God’s people to write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
However, this is more about the atmosphere of your home rather that what things decorate it.
A WELCOMING HOME
When Jesus called His disciples, He didn’t choose the elite, the well-to-do, or the most respectable in the community. When and where He revealed Himself and His authority was around the sick, sinful, and lost. Jesus is the friend of sinners.
What does this look like for us?
This looks like inviting your neighbors who don’t know Jesus over for dinner and getting to know them. Or like helping your young co-worker and his family handle a sudden loss. Maybe it looks like inviting the stay-at-home mom in your neighborhood over for a playdate and listening attentively as she opens up about her life.
Each of these scenarios are ways that we invite people in and welcome them, and this opens doors for conversations and relationships that are infused with the grace, love, and truth of the Gospel.
A welcoming home isn’t just for those outside of our family. We can make sure that our home is welcoming to those we share it with also.
Those we love the most are usually the quickest to sin against us. Do we handle that with the same grace and forgiveness we so freely give to others? Or do we stew on their sin and hold it against them?
James 1:19 says for us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.” This can be quite a challenge toward the ones we spend so much time with. Be quick to give grace to those in your family as well. Let them know that they are welcome to be completely themselves at home.
A SACRIFICIAL HOME
Jesus sacrificed. Jesus served. We, too, are called to live a life of service and sacrifice. To take up our cross and follow Jesus.
This means that we are to count others as more than ourselves, being quick to put their needs before our own. Not as doormats to be abused or taken advantage of, but as loving servants of Christ walking in His will.
When God interrupts your day with a friend who needs you watch the kids because she has to take one to the doctor or your neighbor calls because she and her husband had another fight. Pray and ask God for wisdom in how you can glorify Him and share Jesus in these moments, instead of getting frustrated.
Romans 12:1-2 says that you are to present your body as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. The way that you live and serve and give is your worship to God. Everything you say and do and think is a opportunity to glorify your heavenly Father.
What you do inside your home is in many ways more important than what you can do outside of your home.
As a wife and mother you can’t but help to serve and sacrifice. From babies who fully depend on you to a husband who needs you. Your day is filled naturally with serving and sacrifice for those you love and it can sometimes feel like all you do is put everyone else first, leaving you feeling burned out.
And now I am saying you are to serve and sacrifice for everyone else too! They won’t all come knocking on your door at once. But, God will most likely send them to you when you see it as the most inopportune times. Trust Him and depend on Him to supply all your needs.
A WORSHIP-FILLED HOME
A Gospel-centered home is filled with worship. From waking to peaceful hymns of praise to joyful-noise dance parties in the middle of the day, and then to family worship in the evenings before bed singing songs together. Worship is rejoicing in what God has done.
Praise God even when you aren’t sure how the mortgage is going to be paid this month. Worship God’s steadfast love and faithfulness when you are exhausted and burned out. A worship-filled home knows that even if everything is falling apart, God is STILL GOOD.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
Psalm 63:3
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A SCRIPTURE-RICH HOME
Read it. Write it. Speak it. Memorize it. Hang it.
Let scripture invade your home! The Word of God is alive and active! Fill your home with the living Word of God. This is what you decorate your walls with. But don’t be a family that just hangs pretty feel-good verses on the wall for décor. Be a family that lives it!
To live it is to know it. To know it is to study and read it.
Make it a priority for yourself and your family to read God’s Word every day. Having a solid foundation of truth through scripture is crucial to navigating life. Know what truth is, and you will not be easily swayed.
The same is for our children. Teach them diligently and train them in the truth of scripture so that they may discern what is right and good and beautiful. Instruct them how to go to the Bible for answers when they are searching or conflicted about something.
Also, memorize verses together as a family. A dry erase marker on the bathroom mirror is a great way to change up verses you are memorizing while putting them in a high-traffic visual spot. If you have an IOS phone or tablet, the Verses app is a great tool for memorizing scripture.
A SAFE HOME
Whether is it a friend needing a shoulder to cry on or someone to confide in, or your spouse coming home after a hard meeting at work, a Gospel centered home is ready to greet them with open arms and steady comfort.
A safe, Gospel-centered home will meet emotions with calm and grace and not be quick to speak, but rather listening and asking questions.
A Gospel-centered home that is safe is also an atmosphere of kindness and building up, not one of harsh judgement and tearing down. It is a home that does not allow unwholesome talk, even in fun, go unchecked.
Treat those you love and those who enter your home in a way that they will know that it is a safe place to open up as well as feel confident that they will never be made to feel less than by anyone’s speech or actions. Your home is a refuge of peace and love.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18
This verse and quote have always resonated with me. People can quickly forget what you said or did. But people will remember how you made them feel. The atmosphere of your home is carried out by how you make the people who live and visit your home feel through the Gospel love that you show them.
Share Jesus through love, serving, sacrifice, steadfast praise, truth, and genuine kindness. This is what makes a Gospel centered home.
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