Since March, many people have the option (required?) to work from home. Online schools, Zoom meetings, live stream events are a way of life for a lot of people now. It’s a blessing for some, but a curse for others. The BBC reported that during the first seven weeks of their lockdown, the police received one domestic abuse call every 30 seconds. For many women and children, the government locked them in a prison and doomed them to far worse suffering than COVID. Sadly, we don’t know how many homes are not what they ought to be or even appear to be on the outside. Psalms 101:2 “…I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.”
You are who you are at home. If you are a paradigm of piety in public but a scoundrel at home, I can tell you which persona is the real one. David was the same man at home as he was in public. He sang of God’s mercy and judgment in public worship as well as private. David’s faith had feet. He “walked” in his home, which is talking about his character, his integrity, and the principles that guided his life. His guiding principle for public and private life, was the Word of God. David’s goal was to walk with a perfect heart everywhere, but especially at home. Charles Spurgeon called it, “The Psalm of Pious Resolutions.” Most agree this was written as prior to David becoming king, and maybe before David was married as he thought about life as the head of his home. When he thought about what it meant to lead, he didn’t imagine using and abusing authority, but he purposed to do what was right, even when he was out of the prying and critical public eye. When he came home and sat down to rest, away from his enemies and away from the public pressure of being a man of authority, he wasn’t going to give himself over to sin because he “deserved a break.” But he loved God in the public square, and loved him at home. David’s resolution was to be a holy man, starting and especially at home. Some Christians get so wrapped up in their testimony to the lost and yet never give a moment’s consideration to their testimony at home. Do you treat your family better or worse than your co-workers?
If you know your Bible, you might be reading with a furrowed brow of disapproval, thinking, “David wasn’t much of a family man, look at what he did in his life!” Which is true. David was a sinner and he wasn’t the best husband who ever lived, or the best father. But consider all David’s problems in his later years came from his failure to walk in his house with a perfect heart. It should be your desire to walk with integrity in public, but just as much in private. Christ must be Lord of your life, and that includes your home.
