Family Is A Divine Purpose

In Acts chapter sixteen, Paul told the
Philippian jailer: "Believe on the Lord
Jesus and you will be saved, and your
household." His household? There would
be his wife, adult sons and their wives,
daughters, servants, slaves, and possibly
grandparents. Could his faith save their
souls? We may as well ask if a father's
cup of coffee could satisfy his family!
The household could be saved, but each
one must believe on the Lord Jesus. No-
body can be saved secondhand through his
father or mother. God has no grand-
children. But this phrase, "you and
you household," did mean something.
It was no throwaway line. Behind it lay
paul's understanding of the purposes of
God spelled out in the Scriptures. He
knew that in Scripture, 'family' has a
divine purpose. It is mentioned over
three hundred times in Scripture, and
is what the whole world is all about.
Paul had much to say about 'the house-
hold' in his letters.

The God Who Creates

Twice, in the first chapter of Revelation, God called Himself,
''He who was.''  The God that was' is how half the world thinks
of Him:  the One who created heaven and earth, and has done
very little ever since.  Limited to that idea, people may as well
have faith in Pharaoh.  Could a God of such creative imagination
settle down to being a God of long ago, the past, sitting in heaven
with His hands folded in His lap?  He filled the empty skies with
unsurpassing beauty and then went to sleep?  If we do not see
further than that, we are not very perceptive.  Could any of us
build even a house and abandon it?  Could God ignore His own
universe?





''In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.''
So what?  Well, the question naturally is, ''Why should God do
any such thing?''  He did not do it to please anybody, there was
nobody else, only Himself!  He pleased Himself when He did it. 
He was not obliged to do so.  He was not pressured.  What some
one does because they want to do it shows what they are.  If I sat
down in my room, shut the door and played the organ, it whould 
be for my own pleasure.  It would tell people that it was me,
because I am musical.  I would do that.  God brought the
glittering stars and the planets into being because that is what
He wanted to do.  ''The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament shows His handiwork.''  So begins
Psalm 19, and the writer is thrilled.  But it is the aurora of God,
not the spledor of the universe, that he is excited about, he is
distracted form Creation by the Creator!