What should a Christian look like at home?
What does God expect from you, if you live in a Christian house?
Whenever we ask the question, “what does a Christian look like?,” we have to look first and foremost at the life of Jesus. We do this because as Christians we first and foremost follow Christ.
He lived a perfect, sinless life. He is our example for everything, even what we do in our homes.
Jesus had parents and siblings (though his situation was a little different, in that he was the Son of God).
God allowed his Son to be born of a woman, Mary, on this earth so that we could know Him.
Through his interactions with his family and Father, we can learn how we ought to interact at home as well.
1. Jesus had a relationship with God first
It’s easy to see your home situation as the biggest issue in your life, since it’s the part you deal with the most. But the truth is, there is ONE thing that is more important - your relationship with God.
This means that your relationships with your parents and siblings, no matter how good or how bad, are not a substitute for your relationship with Jesus.
Typically one of two things happens in Christian homes.
- If you have a really good Christian home, you may not even realise that YOU need God. You know the motions, the lingo, but not Jesus.
- You may grow up in a home where everyone claims to be Christians, and you go to church, but no one acts like Christians the rest of the week. Your tendency is to give up on the God of your parents, and assume he's just like them.
The truth is,, that God is God regardless of what your family is like. You must know HIM. If you’re not pursing Jesus, you're not being the family member he wants you to be.
In scripture, we see that Jesus prayed and knew the Word even though he had good parents and was the Son of God.
2. Jesus obeyed relentlessly
God's will for your family is simple. It's that you will all have a love for him and knowledge of his ways. Part of the way we get that is through having proper relationships with each other.
- With your mother and father, this looks like love and respect.
- With your siblings this looks like deep friendship.
- With your parents, this looks like obedience (Ephesians 6:1).
Obedience is not an awful word - it's an awesome word. A life of obedience is God-honoring, epic, radical and dangerous (in a good way).
If you disagree, then you're saying Jesus had a boring, uneventful life because if there is one thing he did, it was obey the Father. Here's some examples:
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5:19)
So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. (John 8:28)
For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. (John 12:49)
Because Jesus (God the son) obeyed God the Father we now have access to eternal life through faith alone. Great and awesome things happened because Jesus decided to obey even when it didn't seem fair and he didn't feel like it (see Mark 14:36).
Isn't obedience boring?
So don't think of your role, the obedient one, as a worthless, boring and inconvenient. See it as a way to show off the glorious God to your parents and siblings and to do great things in his name.
I'll say this: I have never once regretted obeying my parents. But every time I have disobeyed them, I have regretted it, because that is not God's plan for me or my family.
Jesus had a relationship with God, spent time in prayer and knew the Word. He also obeyed relentlessly to the end of his physical life here on earth. That’s what a Christian looks like at home.
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