The family altar

Our family has always desired to gather daily to worship, pray, and read the Scriptures together. Over the past week, by the grace of God, and thanks to my husband's leadership, we have all joined together before bedtime to worship as a family. These have been some of our sweetest times together as a family.

Unfortunately, I think both my husband and I were surprised at the joy family worship would bring. And it has brought joy. Or rather, God has given us joy as we have retreated for a few moments to focus on Him in song, prayer, and Bible reading.

In the past, we have had the tendency to think of family worship as adding to our list of duties to be performed at the end of the day. You know- clear table, do dishes, brush teeth, bath time, jammies... do family worship. But we have discovered that we do family worship because of the delight and joy we have from fellowship in God's word after the bombardment of the day and the constant pull of sin and our own desires to gain utmost importance in our hearts.

There is no duty there, but a deep need is met in our hearts! We need it, we desire it, we find pleasure in it.

Now, I anticipate that there will come a day (probably very soon), when sin, busyness, or laziness will win for first place in our hearts. I anticipate this because of the truth of Romans 7 and my own experience in the spiritual disciplines. And I also anticipate that God's grace will be present then just as it is now to restore our focus and to remind us of the pleasure to be found at the family altar.