Thursday - Guard Your Home

Nehemiah 13:23-28 – In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: 24 And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. 25 And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. 27 Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives? 28 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

Proverbs 22:6 - "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." 

The children in Nehemiah's day spoke the language of Ashdod because that's what they heard. Children repeat what surrounds them. That's not an indictment of the kids, it's a mirror for the home.

The question isn't whether your children will pick up a language spiritually. They will. The question is which one they'll hear spoken at your table.

Reflect:

-       What do the people in your home hear you get excited about, what fills your conversation?

-       What's one practical way you could make the language of faith more audible in your home this week (a prayer before dinner, a verse discussed at breakfast, talking about what God is doing)?