1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord

There is an old saying that “home is where the heart is.” I thought about as I reflected on the passage above.  If home is where the heart is and you have set apart Christ as Lord in your heart, then you will have set apart Christ as Lord in your home. This should be our aim in all of our homes: Set apart Christ as Lord.

If Christ is the Lord of your home, He is the Master, the one in control, He is in charge of everything that happens in your house. If Jesus has first place in your home, He is the Head, He is in control of what goes on there. Is that the way it is in your home? Is everything that you say and do in your home a reflection of the Lordship of Jesus in that household? Of course not. In fact, I sometimes think that sin is intensified in our family situations. Snide remarks among siblings. Disobedience and talking back to parents. Losing your temper with your children. Blowing up at the kids when they fail to do something even though you have told them time and time and time again to do it! Taking it out on your spouse when you have a bad day.

Properly speaking, our homes are dens of iniquity. We don’t usually use that terminology, but that is what our homes are: They are places where sinners live.

My youngest daughter sent us a video five years ago. There is no audio-just the caption “how we ended up needing to have lunch.” She starts by showing 3-year-old Iris at one end of the table sitting quietly eating her sandwich. Then she slowly pans to the other end of the table where 1-1/2 year old Simon is sitting in his high chair with his back to the table, also eating quietly. They had been fighting, and the only way to stop it was to turn Simon where he couldn’t see his sister! Sin is a reality in our homes. I point this out to drive home the need to set apart Christ as Lord in your homes. You need the healing power of His love and forgiveness in the day to day difficulties in your home life.

To set apart Christ as Lord in your home means more than lip service or a plaque on the wall or a Bible on the shelf. It means speaking your faith to one another. Praying together. Spending time in the Word of God and sharing that with each other. It means there will be repentance and God’s forgiveness will be offered to one another in your home.

Letting Jesus be the Lord and Master of your home doesn’t happen through some big, grand gesture. It happens by all the little things you do that reflect His love. Those small things have a way of adding up.

Think about this: if there are areas of your life where Christ is not in control, then who is in control? If Christ is not the Lord of some part of your life, who have you put in that position?

Johnny had been misbehaving and was sent to his room. After a while he came out and told his mother that he had thought it over and said a prayer. His mother said, “Good, if you ask God to help you not misbehave, He will help you.” Johnny replied, “Oh, I didn’t ask Him to help me not misbehave. I asked Him to help you put up with me.” Johnny did not want to let Christ be in control of his life.

Our sinful nature will tell us not to let Jesus be the Lord and Master, not to let Him have control. The devil will work on you to convince you that you can take care of things all by yourself. That is when we need to focus on the cross. Remember the love of God that led Him to send Jesus to that awful death in your place, so that your sins would not be held against you. Your faith in Jesus means He is your Savior. He has saved you from death and everlasting condemnation. The follow-up to knowing and believing that is to let Him be your Lord, your Master, too. Let Him be in control.

The message of the Bible is about God’s grace, not human goodness. The stories in the Bible tell us about sinners, people to whom God reached out in grace to offer undeserved love and forgiveness. This is the message we need to hear and take to heart. It is all about Jesus. That is the message that should be shared in your homes as well. Don’t pretend to be without sin. Each of us must admit our faults. Confess your sins to each other. Extend God’s forgiveness to one another. That is all part of setting apart Christ as Lord, letting Him be the one in control.