Baptism, Family, and Following God.

We’ve been in Florida for the past couple weeks.  While we were here we had to find a community with whom we could worship together.  We went to a church close to where we were staying.  It was a blessing.   Singing praises to God in fellowship with other believers, there is no greater privilege. 

While we were there we witnessed three baptisms!  What was so special about it was that we saw God move in a family.  Those who were baptised were a father and his two sons.  It was an amazing testimony that was shared.  

First the father who came to call Jesus his king.  He did not attend church but his wife did.  She was faithful to the Lord.  However he was a son of a voodoo priest and dabbled in that religion for a while.  However, he got sick and found no solution in practicing voodoo and turned to Jesus.  When he turned to Jesus he was healed.  And after being healed he followed faithfully to church and to the community and lifestyle God had called him to.  

I think this brings to light the value of a wife that is faithful to God.  Because she continued in her faith and lived it out, not badgering him but being silently devoted, her husband knew where to find hope when nothing he could do helped.  Her commitment to God in a difficult situation gave hope to her husband who needed Jesus.  Our faith speaks volumes when we actively live it out.  This is a principle that is set forth in scripture, especially for wives to their husbands.  This is the only time where the gospel is prescribed in action with lack of words. (The gospel is always to proclaim with words though actions are a necessary part. This is the only time where words are not necessary and silence is key). She trusted God and he was faithful. 

His two sons were  baptised with him.  This is such a powerful witness as well.  His sons had been attending church with their mother since they were young.  They went with her faithfully.  However, their belief in the power of God did not manifest until they witnessed their father follow Jesus.  This is not to say anything against the mother (she was the catalyst by which God saved the entire family!) but what I am saying is the power of the father, the spiritual leader of the home, following the true King.  When they saw how their father changed, that gave room for the Spirit of God to move in and work on those two sons' hearts.  The father is the leader of the home.  So the father goes, so goes his family.  This is by no mistake.  This is the paradigm in which God instituted the family all the way back to Genesis 1. 

It was an honor to witness that family changed by the power of God.  And I write these things to encourage you. If you are in any one of these positions, draw near to the Lord.  Whether you are the wife that longs for her family to follow Jesus.  The husband who needs Jesus. Or maybe the father that seeks for his family to follow the Lord.  Maybe you're the child wondering about who Jesus is but have no one to lead you.  Find solace in this family coming to Jesus. Be the one who continues in faithfulness to draw another into the kingdom of God.  Or look at the faithfulness of those around you and ask the question why are they this way. God loves families and I pray yours is or becomes a part of his everlasting kingdom.

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 Peter 3:1

For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour Ephesians 5:23