All Roads Lead Home

We live in a broken world with disintegration all around. According to Chinua Achebe, the great African writer; “Things fall apart, the center cannot hold!” The social construct is falling apart, governments are failing, the Church is threatened on every side, and family units are breaking apart by the day! The magnitude of the attack against the family is concerning, to say the least. Employers give bonuses for longer hours on the job, parents have no idea who their children really are, or what they are up to. Technological gadgets, gaming, internet entertainment, and the lure of the virtual world, pull the young and old alike farther away from the family table!

The Book of Nehemiah tells us how one man saw a need to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem, and took action to execute the burden God placed in his heart. God gave him favor all the way, providing and protecting, until the work was completed. Then God opened Nehemiah’s eyes to see that although the wall was built, something was missing; “Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families” (Nehemiah 7:4-5).

It is striking that God’s plan for rebuilding a nation involved bringing families together, strengthening the very fabric that weave the nation together. It was no coincidence that during Nehemiah’s building project, Benjamin and Hasshub built the section, which was right in front of their houses; and Azariah, the son of Maaseiah and grandson of Ananiah, built the next section, which was in front of his own house (Nehemiah 3:23). God is calling us back to our families and we must start rebuilding from our homes!

In another account, the book of Ezra reports a listing of families that returned from captivity. Some men had trouble providing proof of their genealogy. “These searched for their family records, but they could not find them, and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest to consult the Urim and Thummim.” (Ezra 2:62-63). How many of us have been excluded from the holy things of God because of our inability to maintain wholesome family records? The Church can accomplish so much more, if the links within our families are stronger. A man of God put it this way "Before there ever was a church, there was a family"

Some of us have immediate family members that we are not on talking terms with. We harbor feelings of anger and bitterness against our own blood; yet we extend a hand of love to people we meet along the way. As I ponder on these things I am reminded of the Bible verse that says; “And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). God’s question to Cain is echoed to us today. Surprisingly, we may have answers very similar to the words of Cain. Yet we want God to draw us in, we want God to bless us, we want to enjoy privileges of belonging to God’s family while we ignore the family of our birth or the family that is ours by marriage. God is not pleased with this!

God spoke through the mouth of His prophet “ You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer regards your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands. Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant (Malachi 2: 13 & 14). On the flip side, many wives grieve the Lord because they rebel against God's divine order in the home. Consider a woman who has no problem submitting to other men, but struggles with issues of submission to her husband, either because the man she married is not tall enough, not smart enough, or not man enough! Yet the bible says “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22).

As much as I believe in the unifying power of the blood of Jesus, I also believe that God placed us in our biological families for a purpose. We have to start building from our Jerusalem before spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. Husbands and wives must let God use their relationship to demonstrate Kingdom love on the earth. Parents must take their responsibility of raising Godly seeds seriously, and children must go back to honoring their parents, just as the Lord commanded. "Honor your father and mother, then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12). This is an encouragement to rise up to the challenge of rebuilding the broken walls of family relationships. It may seem like a very daunting task, but with God nothing shall be impossible!

Jesus had performed an extraordinary miracle in the land of the Gadarenes, He healed a man tormented by demons who dwelt among the tombs. As Jesus was getting into the boat to leave, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Much to the man's surprise, Jesus turned down his request. Instead, He said to the man “Go home to your family, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how merciful he has been to you (Mark 5:18 &19). Some of us have noble dreams to work for God. Perhaps God would have you start from your home, ministering to your spouse, your children, your loved ones.



“But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve….But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15).

Someone's Standing at the Door

Some years ago, it was common for Christians reaching out to others with the good news of salvation to ask, “Do you have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?” Then some people who do not have that kind of a relationship would shift uncomfortably in their seats, and become defensive. So in a bid to lighten up the air, the question was rephrased to “Do you go to church?” or “Where do you go to church?” Now, to be clear on this matter, going to church and having a relationship with the Lord are not the same thing. No, not at all! Empty religion is man’s effort or man’s rules to reach God. Some people engage in church activities without an active relationship with God in a bid to quench the emptiness in our souls. God is calling us into something deeper. He is calling us into a vibrant relationship with Him!

In the book of 1^st Samuel 3:1, we are told that Samuel had been ministering to the Lord in the temple. Yet verse 8 tells us that “Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him.” If you are engaged in service in the house of God, I salute you. There is no higher calling, no greater honor a man can have, than to be enrolled in the service of the Almighty God. However, we must know the God that we serve. His presence must abide with us beyond the church walls, His power pervading our day to day lives. We must receive God’s  love expressed through His Son, and respond with all we have within us. God came seeking Samuel in the dead of the night. He may be knocking at the door of your heart right at this moment. 

Religion without a personal relationship with the Lord is like trying to live without breathing! It is like licking the skin of a mango fruit without ever reaching its juicy pulp! To know the Lord is different from knowing about Him. The Apostle Paul sighed in prayer; “Oh! That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Philippians 3:10). Have you ever felt a jolt of His resurrection power flow through you? Do you desire fellowship with the Lord, even in suffering? Are you willing to give up anything at all for the sake of conforming to Christ? Hard questions? Maybe. However, these questions are necessary as we stop to consider where we are in our walk with God.

Perhaps you are wondering, “How do I even initiate a relationship with a God I cannot see?” Or you say “My life is filled with sin, God would not want anything to do with me!” Well, quit worrying about that, God is the one initiating this relationship! He extended the golden scepter to you when He said, “Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). All you have to do is come to God in repentance, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and the finished work of the cross, and the burden of sin will no longer be yours to bear. Then you can get started with God on a dynamic and personal relationship that will affect every facet of your life, and make all things brand new.

Above all, entering into a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus, gives you the assurance of spending eternity with God. You then shift your focus from the fleeting things of life to the more enduring things. According to the Apostle Paul, "we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). When you have this understanding, life takes on a new meaning and you become purposeful in the relationships that you have. Our human affiliations can only reach their highest potential when we are building a lasting relationship with God in the hope of spending eternity with Him.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).