What Strangers Observe in the Christian Household

Isaiah 39:4 presents a piercing question: "What have they seen in thine house?" King Hezekiah faced Babylonian envoys—foreigners utterly ignorant of the true God. Before such strangers, it was supremely important to exhibit nothing that would dishonour Yahweh. These aliens might have been greatly edified by observing a deeply chastened and humble spirit in the king. Yet what do contemporary observers notice in Christian homes?

A worldly visitor entering a professing Christian's house naturally expects congruence between profession and practice. He anticipates what St. Paul calls "the Church that is in thy house"—a pervasive air of heavenly-mindedness evident in all its rooms. He would expect the treasures of parental piety, filial obedience, and the sacred rhythm extending from master to servant, as the Sabbath law extends to cattle and stranger alike.

Night and morning should present prayer and Scripture-reading to "the God of all the families of the earth." Every chamber should feature the ready Bible, suggesting the privilege of secret study. Good books scattered on tables stand as trophies of religion's triumph. Peace, cheerfulness, and mutual harmony should breathe from Heaven upon every grateful heart. The music of habitual concord—that Aeolian psalm—should resound through the household church. Family love, that instinctive foretaste of universal Heaven's love, should spread its sweet odour like Aaron's oil from the head downward, clothing every blessed heart.