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A house is where a family lives. A home is how a family lives. A home begins with a man and a woman who become husband and wife. What any home is or is not rests entirely on their shoulders.
The most important of all elements to a good house is the foundation. So it is with the home. The only foundation strong enough to build the ideal home on is a spiritual foundation where both husband and wife sincerely try to live according to the great life-principles of the Bible. If both partners in a marriage are faithful to what God teaches in His Word, they cannot be unfaithful or unloving to one another.
Another important ingredient of the ideal home is loyalty. There is no earthly tie or relationship that deserves more loyalty than that of a husband and wife for each other and the home they have established by their marriage. This was established by Divine decree when God brought Adam and Eve together in the beginning: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall be one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). The degree of this loyalty is seen in Paul’s statement: “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for it” (Eph. 5:25). While both Scriptures are addressed to husbands, they apply with equal force to the loyalty a wife must have for her husband.
This loyalty means that one must put his mate before himself and his personal, selfish interests. He must give himself up for his partner. This loyalty means that one’s husband/wife must come before one’s parents in loyalties. One must leave parents and cleave to one’s mate. This loyalty will place the best interests of one’s mate before his job, his friends, his recreation, or any other earthly concern. If one is not willing to practice some self-denial to please his mate, he is not very loyal. Those people who marry, but who maintain a greater loyalty and consideration for their parents than for their mate are going to have an understandably unhappy mate and home. Some people fall into the trap of spending more time and loyalty on their work than they do on their home. Others seem to be more married to their friends or their hobby than they are to their spouse. Such disloyal behavior will cause resentment, jealousy, and strife and rob the home of the peace, joy, and happiness God intended it to have.
[Note: I wrote this article for, and it was published in the “Bible Thoughts” Column for the Hood County News, Granbury, Texas, November 11, 1979.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
