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When
Everyone Does Their Chores
Joe Goodspeed
Though we're truly thankful for conveniences of today, we realize that
back when times were less convenient and in many ways harder, the family
was more closely compacted. In the families, people stood up for each
other. Divorce was practically unknown. And many young people would not
have dared to do anything that would have disgraced the family name.
One of the big reasons for that strong family solidarity and that warm
family love was the chores.
Everyone except the babies had something to do
and did it! Everyone in the family "ganged up" on milking the
cows, gathering eggs, mending fences, cutting and chopping wood, feeding
the animals, preparing meals,
doing the dishes, washing and ironing, etc.
And do you know something? When those families worked together, they tightened
the string that tied them together. And the children grew up realizing
the necessity, dignity, and also the joy of work.
We need to remember that the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a family (1 Timothy 3:15). It is also called a farm (Matthew
20:1; 1 Corinthians
3:5-9). The words of Jesus from another context surely speak the will of
Christ for the church: "Go work today in my vineyard," (Matthew
21:18).
And with each of us finding areas where we can
fit in, and "doing
our chores," not only is the work of Christ accomplished with his
harvest of souls and works of love beautifully productive, but also each
of us is bound more closely to the Lord, and held more dearly in love and
loyalty to each other.
Many, many times, in the old days, the fathers
and mothers would need to remind their children, "Sammy, do your
chores...
Mary, get on your chores And you and I need to
hear, as it were, the voice of the Lord today, for our sake and for the
sake of his cause, as that
voice lovingly calls each of us by name and says, "Don't forget the
chores!"
It Is Hard . . . .
To convince your children that the church is the most important thing
in the world when you are negligent about attending it's services and supporting
it's work.
To convince your children that the church is the greatest institution
in the world when you permit them to miss services to go elsewhere
To convince your children that the church is to be held higher than anything
when you insist that they do their homework for public school but permit
them to neglect Bible study
To convince your children that the church is the world's most important
institution when you give little to help finance it's work and encourage
them to do likewise.
To convince your children that they should respect the church when you
continually criticize the leadership, belittle the preacher's work, and
appear a habitual faultfinder.
....Author Unknown
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