{"id":1715,"date":"2017-06-02T15:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T20:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=1715"},"modified":"2017-06-02T15:00:18","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T20:00:18","slug":"your-true-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2017\/06\/02\/your-true-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Your True Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I bow my knees before the Father,\u00a0from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (Ephesians 3:14b-15)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2017\/05\/18\/reflections-on-a-graduation-and-a-bike-ride\/\">Two weeks ago<\/a> while reflecting on Joel\u2019s graduation and the bike ride to DC, I noted the frequent repetition of the word \u201chome\u201d during the ceremony in Chapel Hill: \u201cChapel Hill is home. You can always come home. This place is your home forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What is the nature of a good home? In a good family we are loved and accepted. We indeed can always return home. Our family welcomes us and takes us in.\u00a0 Nothing we do will get us kicked out of a good family.<\/p>\n<p>But a family includes something more which the Apostle Paul brings out in Ephesians \u2013 something missed in the picture of \u201chome\u201d painted at the graduation:<\/p>\n<p>In a good family, there is a father, and he has authority.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Yes, in a good family there is acceptance. And in a good family there is also loving authority.<\/li>\n<li>Yes, we are never kicked out of a good family. But there is also discipline in that good family, for our good and the good of the family.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There cannot be a family, there cannot be a home without authority.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the Apostle says that every family in heaven and on earth is \u201cnamed\u201d after that heavenly family with the heavenly Father. Every family \u2013 and especially every father \u2013 ideally should picture the love, watchcare, guidance, provision, and discipline of our heavenly family.<\/p>\n<p>Our culture is reluctant to recognize such authority, in part because it has been distorted so often. Too many fathers check out, and just want peace and quiet in the house so they can relax. Others discipline harshly, or verbally and physically abuse their wives and children.<\/p>\n<p>But do you see the Apostle Paul\u2019s point? Such behavior on the part of fathers is evil not only because of the sin against family members; it is also wrong because God created fatherhood to display His character. Checked-out and abusive fathers sin against God by providing others a terrible picture, a distorted picture, of what God the Father is like.<\/p>\n<p>Yet see how God provides for us the perfect picture of acceptance and authority in Jesus Christ. He accepts us: \u201cCome to me all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest\u201d (Matthew 11:28). His sacrifice enables us to be part of His family \u2013 indeed, part of His Bride (Ephesians 5:25-32). He accepts us as we are \u2013 but praise God He loves us too much to leave us as we are. He sanctifies us. He cleanses us. He Himself presents us to Himself, \u201cwithout spot or wrinkle or any such thing\u201d (Ephesians 5:27).<\/p>\n<p>David concludes Psalm 23 with these words: \u201cI will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.\u201d In Christ, we will be part of God\u2019s loving family forever: Under His authority, loved beyond our imagining, enabled to see Him face to face and to enjoy Him forever. That indeed is our true home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I bow my knees before the Father,\u00a0from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (Ephesians 3:14b-15) Two weeks ago while reflecting on Joel\u2019s graduation and the bike&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15,17],"tags":[87,88,90,169,515,519,520,738],"class_list":["post-1715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-devotions","category-family","tag-abuse","tag-abusive","tag-acceptance","tag-authority","tag-family","tag-father","tag-fatherhood","tag-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}