FRONT-PORCH GOSPEL: Restoring the family altar

Good week to all. Welcome to the “front porch.”

Some months ago, a young “almost-thirty” mother from church here in Red Oak sent me a request to teach on the “family altar.” I was honored to receive her request on such an important topic.

We began thinking along those lines immediately. Truth is, I am sure we all have been thinking along these lines more since the outset of the pandemic.

One of the first considerations when you come to such a place is the audience to whom you’re addressing. Who is it that tends to be most concerned about the practice of Bible devotions in the home, this family altar? I thought first of two special groups of people, or age-groups of people – the twenty-something generation, and then the thirty-something group in which I placed our young friend who made the special request. Of course, the Christian responsibility to make your home a “sanctuary” of sorts branches out to cover and affect every age-group, but the ages between twenty and forty years seem to have the most at stake here.

The twenty-something young men and women have a little different set of concerns, generally, than do those a decade older. When one is twenty-something, young men and women focus largely upon themselves – they have schooling to get through, a career to start, a handsome young man or lovely lady to sweep off their feet, and, generally, a search for the answer to the question of, “Who exactly am I?” You understand.

But if we fast-forward ten years, the focus shifts dramatically. Suddenly these same men and women – who, by this time, have completed the task of sweeping someone off their feet – look around, and realize life isn’t just about themselves anymore. No, there are some concerns and responsibilities that far transcend “self.” Two or three sets of young feet have started their pitter-pattering through the house. For the first time ever, maybe, their generation has to think of some others before they think of themselves – really, they have to think of others long, long before they think of themselves.

Considering my friend’s request, I began to realize that she was representative of an entire generation of young men and women. With all the ages with whom we have worked in the Lord’s vineyard, this generation is one of those with which I am most impressed. I have seen a definite “hungering and thirsting after righteous” in so many young couples (Matthew 5:6). I have seen young men and women who are concerned first with following the apostles’ command to raise up their children in “the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” as the KJV puts it in Ephesians 6:4.

That is their concern. They realize that they hold in their hands the very souls of those young ones whose feet pitter-patter across their floor all through the day.

I think there is something very special on the heart of a young Christian mother who has the courage to say: Will you teach on something that will help me make sure we raise our children in the light of the Lord? What a valiant desire!

So, to my young almost-thirty friend, I say, thank you, young Christian mother and friend, for your special request. I hope what we have to offer will be a true, long-lasting blessing to you and all of yours. May the Lord bless you richly for your very special spirit.

Coach Steven Bowen, a long-time Red Oak teacher and coach, now enjoys his time as a full-time writer and preacher of the gospel. In addition to his evangelistic travels, he works and writes for the Church of Christ of Red Oak at Uhl Road and Ovilla. Their worship times are 10 a.m. Sundays and 7:30 pm. Wednesdays. Email coachbowen1984@gmail.com or call or text 972-824-5197.