Daily Wisdom 06-07-2001 One More Person at Your House

For four years, Karen and I ran wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted, the first four years we were married. It was just two people, neither of us required diapers, or formula, or an early bedtime. And then along came this precious little bundle that we named Lisa. And our lives were never the same. Maybe you've experienced this. We didn't want them to be the same, of course. Now, there was another agenda to consider - with Lisa's. And then of course Doug came along, and then we had his agenda. And of course, we had Brad, and we had to consider his needs, and these needs were becoming more and more decisive. And suddenly you know, when we just had Lisa, for example, we had to consider Lisa's needs, and oftentimes, by the timewe got everything together that she was going to need, we said, "Aw forget it!", and we didn't go. Now laterwe began to choose things to do that she could do with us. Then her school schedule became a major factor inour schedule. And then her opinion and feelings became an issue in decisions from vacation to whether wewere going to move or not. And we had someone else to shop for, someone else to buy for. Life at our housewas a whole new adventure from the day another person joined our family.

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from I Chronicles, Chapter 13, Verse 14. It's an insidelook at a family that had a very unusual presence in their house. Now whenever you hear about The Ark ofGod in the Old Testament, you know that that was the physical container for the presence of God as it were.So it says, "The Ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom, in his house for three months.And the Lord blessed his household and everything he had." And you can just imagine the neighborsgoing, did you hear what's going on over at Obed-Edom's house. There's something exciting going on overthere, because the Glory of the Lord, that's the Ark of the Covenant, the Glory of the Lord was in his house.

Now the Ark is gone, but the Glory still moves into people's homes. You see, we are all supposedto live asObed-Edom did, with a strong sense of God's personal presence right in our home. That is the great privilege,that is the great responsibility of a Christian parent - to see that our children grow up knowing that Jesus livesin our house. You know we had Mom and Dad, and three children, and I always hoped that our kids wouldfeel the reality of Jesus so much that they would tell you that six people lived at our house. Your kids ought tosay that there is one more person than they can see living there. It is Jesus. See, too many homes have Jesus asa belief, or just a list of rules, or someone whose meetings we attend, but not as a member of the family, theruling member, the one who casts the deciding vote on family choices.

The Glory of the Lord fills the house where Jesus is an acknowledged member of the family. Is He at yourhouse? Do your kids sense the reality of this presence as we talk to Him and pray with Him? You know, theywill find out that He is real when you consult Him often, when you talk to Him about big things and little things .. . and about bills . . . and biology tests . . . and boy friends . . . when you include Him as a part of yourmealtime conversation . . . when you seek His opinion on things. Well, what does Jesus think about this, andmaybe you get His book open to find out . . . when you include Him in teachable moments - include Hisperspective . . . when you get together to tell Him that you love Him . . . when you tell Him that you are sorry,maybe in their presence . . . when you send them off with Him, and say, "Have a nice day with Jesus." That'sspiritual reality. Karen and I learned what a difference another person could make when that person enteredour family. Well, when that person is the Lord Jesus, He will make all the difference at your house.

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