Two of the greatest opportunities within godly homes revolve around time spent at the family altar and time spent together at the supper table. Both interactions help to develop a cohesive family unit and an unbreakable bond. The family altar helps the family to get to know the Lord while the family table enables the family to get to know each other. The psalmist speaks of the blessing of having children around the table (Psalm 128:3). Some may wonder if this is some other table, but the context of Psalm 128:2 is that of a meal. Families historically placed great importance upon gathering together around the table as much as possible. Today’s disintegrating familial unit usually has each person grabbing his or her own food only to rush off into some other room for work or pleasure. These times of gathering need to be given precedence in order to offer any hope of restoring the family unit.
This life offers only a window of time and opportunity to work for the Lord. Youthfulness and old age both offer their own hindrances to service. In many ways, though not entirely, youth should be spent in learning, middle age in doing, and old age in teaching those who are learning and doing. Many of the greatest servants of the Lord found in scripture began their journey in youth by learning of the Lord and His ways (1 Kings 18:12; Psalm 71:5; 2 Chronicles 34:3; Job 29:4; Ecclesiastes 12:1). As they approached the prime of life, they invested their learning by serving the Lord (Numbers 8:24-25). As they passed their prime, they would pass their knowledge on to the next generation in hopes of the Lord’s work continuing and flourishing (2 Timothy 4:1-8)..
