Daily devotion – The Christian home, what God desires to flow in it.
Ephesians 6:1–4
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’ And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”
The Bible is, in many ways, a book about families—or to summarise it even more simply, about a family: the family of God. God has always worked His purposes through households, generations, and faithful parents who walk before Him.
The home of a believer is meant to be the greatest seminary, mission board, Bible college, and training centre of biblical truth. Long before a child ever sits under formal teaching in the church, they are learning—by word and example—what it means to follow Christ.
Andrew Murray, the well-known Bible teacher whose writings have blessed generations, gives us a striking picture of the impact a godly home can have.
Andrew Murray (9 May 1828 – 18 January 1917) was a South African pastor, teacher, and Christian writer who believed missions to be “the chief end of the church.” He was born in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, the son of Andrew Murray Sr., a Dutch Reformed missionary sent from Scotland. His mother, Maria Susanna Stegmann, came from French Huguenot and German Lutheran heritage.
Murray pastored churches in Bloemfontein, Worcester, Cape Town, and Wellington, and was a key figure in the South African Revival of 1860. Yet perhaps his greatest earthly legacy was not only in pulpits or books, but in his home.
In the Murray family, eleven children reached adulthood. Five sons became ministers, and four daughters married ministers. The following generation was even more remarkable: ten grandsons became ministers, and thirteen became missionaries. The secret of this extraordinary fruitfulness was not strategy or education alone—but the Christian home.
Have you ever asked your son or daughter what they believe God wants them to do with their life? What area of service or ministry the Lord may be calling them into?
As parents—and grandparents—we have the privilege and responsibility to lovingly steer our children toward learning, living, and delighting in the will of God.
As we step into 2026, take time to pray earnestly for your children and grandchildren. Be like Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice—covering the next generation in prayer and grounding them deeply in the Word of God.
“When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.”
— 2 Timothy 1:5
May our homes be places where faith is not only taught, but caught—where Christ is loved, His Word is honoured, and future servants of the Lord are quietly being prepared.