We labor in vain unless God is in our plans. If we build a house of the finest materials available, it is all in vain. God must be at the center of the home.
“Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Psalms 127:1
It is He who blesses and sustains us. My friend was speaking to me about this subject. Of course he has known all along things have gotten worse regarding the home, and in his almost 88 years he has seen a down turn of the family as a unit.
The home as God designed in Scripture is disintegrating before our eyes, and after reading research regarding the family, things are getting much worse. A study by the Pew Research Center had an article which gave their findings for 2015. Young people are leaving the church in droves, the study finds. Some of this research which came from another research group, ARG, revealed the same information. The trend in both of these studies is indeed alarming.
For all of the youth programs and Bible camps, though they may help somewhat, God didn’t give those programs in Scripture, he gave parents His Word, and to impart His Word to their children, with elders reinforcing parent’s Biblical teaching. Nothing short of those Truths will ever work, no matter how many programs are started, nor how good we think they may be.
In the study, the percentage of adults ages 18 and older, who described themselves as Christians, has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. In my area, though I don’t have the same resources as the research groups, in general, I find the same trend. The numbers don’t lie.
“Research from both 2000 and 2006: “61% of today’s young adults who were regular church attendees are now spiritually disengaged. They are not actively attending church, praying, or reading their Bible.” If this research does not alarm the Lord’s church or parents, then I don’t know what would alarm them. This is the future, and the future of the Lord’s church does not look healthy.
Unless parents go back to the fundamentals, and teach by example within the home the importance of reading, studying and living God’s Word everyday, the downward spiral will continue. God hasn’t changed His mind regarding the importance of teaching children. It was vital under the Old Testament, and just as vital under the New Testament.
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Romans 15:4
The article is rather lengthy and has alarming statistics. I’m highlighting very few. “35% declare the Bible has errors, or they don’t know if it has errors. 45% say they were not taught to defend their faith at Sunday school. 45% say homosexual behavior is not a sin or, they don’t know if it is a sin. 20% believe there are books other than the Bible which are inspired by God and an additional 10% don’t know if there are, and 65% believe if you are a good person you will go to heaven.”
“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 6:7-9
There is no other way to impart Truth to the young except by diligent teaching, and living the example by parents. God thought it important then, and He has not changed His mind now. Our failure is showing through the statistics.
“God has a blueprint for construction and security that cannot be ignored without failure finally coming, no matter what the skill, or strength or industry of the worker may be.”
As people build a home, a business, a school, a nation or a local church, a dependence on God as the builder should be uppermost in their minds.
Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it should be our motto. Churchmen should not be tempted to ignore God, to substitute the human for the Divine. We are too prone to discard the old Scriptural plan for something less demanding. The material for the church is living stones, redeemed and sanctified; but the get-a-crowd-at-any-price builders throw caution to the wind, and use crumbling stones of impenitence, irreverence and worldliness. They swell church rolls and shrink sanctuaries.
As William Cowper stated, too often men have –
“Built God a church, and laugh’d His Word to scorn.” ~ Leroy Brownlow
Eileen Light