The Starting Point

Have you ever stopped and thought about how many different “hats” you wear?
Me personally, I think I wear enough hats to take up a whole walk-in closet! Wife, mom of three, personal chef and chauffeur, referee, professional maid, small group leader, friend, daughter, full time admin, image bearer of God…I mean the list can go on and on.

Because I wear so many hats, I often feel like I am on a stretching rack like back in Medieval times where I’m kind of just strapped to this board of “life” being stretched beyond what my physical body and mind can bear until eventually I’m past the point of pain, things are numb, and I’m just about to explode. It might seem a little dramatic or gruesome but it’s the only way I know how to describe the pressures I feel when life hits all at once!

We live in a culture where we are always rushing around with an endless to do list, a million people to see and please, multiple places to be at once, and deadlines that were due yesterday. We barely have time to eat lunch let alone, find enough time to work on our own physical, mental, and spiritual health while also maintaining work life, social life, and family life all at the same time. Yet, the bible tells us that the greatest commandment is to Love God and Love Others and that our mission is to go out, spread the Gospel, and make disciples that make disciples. How in the world are we supposed to dedicate our time to live that out when we fill our lives with such busy schedules and demanding to do lists?

One simple word…Intentionally.

I often hear the quote, “the most important work you will ever do is within the walls of your own home.”

I never quite grasped what this quote meant until I accepted Jesus in my heart. I didn’t grow up in the church knowing Jesus, so I never saw what it looked like to raise your children in the Word. I didn’t understand the importance of having those biblical foundations as a child and the severity of not knowing.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

I have a family of my own that I am responsible for. It is my job to make sure they know the gospel and understand the depth of God’s love for us and how we are called to abide in Him and share His love everywhere we go. We must keep it on the forefront of our minds and take advantage of every moment that we have to be kingdom minded.

When I started implementing that intentional relational time with my family in discipleship, my home life shifted. Turning up the music to drown out the kids in the car, never eating dinner together, and looking forward to bedtimes just to get a moment alone changed to having gospel conversations in the car ride, cooking dinner and eating together at the table, and having devotional and prayer time as a family before bedtime. My kids are excited to read the bible, they compete for who can memorize the verse first, they share the gospel with their friends at school, they ask questions I don’t have the answers to. I feel the change in my heart, and I see the change that God has made in my family’s heart, and it is beautiful.

“The most important work you will ever do is within the walls of your own home.”

This quote to me means that intentional relational discipleship begins first in my home with my family. If I am not investing my time in the relationships with my spouse and my children first, then I have no business trying to make an impact anywhere else that I go. In this crazy, schedule packed world I live in, I must choose to pause and use every moment I can to model and live out the Gospel.

This post originally appeared at: The Starting Point | Relational Discipleship Network (rdn1.com)