act
16v34 Believing In God With All His House
"BELIEVING
IN GOD WITH ALL HIS HOUSE"
Acts 16:34
In the first part of his
book, "The Pilgrim's Progress", John Bunyan describes Christian as a
lonely pilgrim, traveling his road to the Celestial
City all alone. Along the way, he
met some friends, like Faithful and Hopeful, and he was happy to have their
company. But he was still a lonely pilgrim. Neither his wife nor his children
walked in the path of faith. In the second part of the book, Bunyan gives us a happier
portrait of the pilgrim. Christians joins her husband,
Christian, and their children are also walking in the way. Pilgrim, with his
family by his side, along with a great many friends, all are traveling as a
convoy to the heavenly kingdom.
What a delightful picture! Sometimes godly men and
women have to go to heaven alone. Grace does not run in blood lines. Election
separates many from their nearest kinsmen. Often, the example, the prayers, and
the admonitions of a believer have no influence over those who are dearest to
him. And the believer has to walk in the path of faith, leaving his family
behind. Many a Lot has had to flee from his perishing
wife. Many a David has been required to mourn over his doomed Absalom. And many
an Abraham has prayed without success for his beloved Ishmael. Grace does not
run in blood lines. Faith is not an heirloom, passed on from father to son by
the will of the father. Salvation is not a birthright. Yet, it is often true,
thank God, it is very often true, that the God of
Abraham becomes the God of Sarah, then the God of Isaac, and then the God of
Jacob. God very often saves one, and then uses him as an instrument to draw the
rest to himself. As Spurgeon put it, "He calls an
individual and then uses him to be a sort of spiritual decoy to bring the rest
of the family into the gospel net." Sometimes God passes by entire
families, and none are saved. Sometimes God is gracious to one or two in the
household. And sometimes whole families are enclosed within the circle of electing
love, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and called by the efficacious grace of
the Holy Spirit. Nothing could be more blessed to a man than to be the father
of a family devoted to Christ.