1 Chronicles 13:14 And the ark of God remained with the family of Obededom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obededom… The ark was the symbol of God's presence. Every truly Christian household now had the blessing that so enriched the home of Obed-edom. The subject is — Religion in the home. I. IT IS A POWER OF FULFILMENT. Religion is the sole power of fulfilment in regard to the very purpose and idea of home. A house may be full of persons who are very dear to each other, very kind to each other; full of precious things — affections, hopes, living interests; but if God is not there as the Ruler and Father of the house, the original and true idea of home will not be realised; vacancy and need will still be at the heart of all. Good things will grow feebly and uncertainly, like flowers in winter, trying to peep out into the sunshine, yet shrinking from the blast. Evil things will grow with strange persistency. Little things will produce great distresses. It will be as when a man of ingenuity tries in vain to put together the separated parts of a complicated piece of mechanism. He tries it this way and that, puts the pieces into every conceivable mode of arrange. merit, then at last stops and says, "There must be a piece wanting." Home without the Divine presence is at best a moral structure with the central element wanting. II. IT IS A PRINCIPLE OF HARMONY. Religion is the only principle of harmony in the endeavour after this highest and best home life. It supplies the missing element which unites and quickens all the rest. It conducts its progress as a regulative force. It is hot contended that the principle bears all its proper fruits, and that every Christian home is a scene of unbroken harmony. Some Christian homes are very peaceful. One enters them with the same kind of soothed and comforted feeling with which a traveller, after a toilsome walk over the breezy hills, comes down on a little placid lake, hardly ruffled by the breeze, and fringed with freshest green. Others again are more troubled. But we must not hastily conclude that the uniformly placid house is really further advanced in the harmonies of Christian living than some others which are less serene. It may be so; but it may also be quite the reverse. Sometimes the jarrings are brought out just by the endeavours after the higher harmonies. Failures are more apparent if the efforts are high. The dearest harmonies in all the social life of men are sounding only in the Christian home; and those imperfections of which some make so much, and of which no one ought to make too little, are, after all, but like the flitting shadows of a sunny day — but like the chafing of the stream as it rushes against the rocky barrier on its passage to the peaceful plains which it will fertilise, or to the depths of ocean where it will rest. III. RELIGION IN THE HOUSE IS A SOURCE OF PROSPERITY. Life in the present day is more complex; it has greater interests, heavier tasks and higher prizes. The Lord still blesses the house of Obed-edom and all that he has. 1. Character. 2. Plans of usefulness. 3. Controversies with evil principles and with evil men. 4. Reverses. A thoughtful, earnest man now feels himself connected with politics — law — battles — civilisation — churches — religion — life in all its phases. He has some stake, some property in all these things, and in proportion to the earnestness and greatness of his mind, he will feel that these are the real interests of his life, for which he needs "blessing" from the Lord. IV. RELIGION IN THE HOUSE OF A GOOD MAN, IS LIKELY TO BE A LEGACY TO HIS CHILDREN. In the piety of the living, and in the laws of Christian family life, he makes provision for what we may call the transmission of religion to those who shall come after. In the rule of their house, and in the spirit of their life, godly parents are casting the forms which will be peopled and animated with the future "families of Israel." (A. Raleigh, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the ark of God remained with the family of Obededom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obededom, and all that he had. |
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