We can intentionally create a normal for our home that honors God and leads to a more meaningful life.

Growing up in the South, sweet tea was normal. I had sweet tea in my sippy cup at two years old. Much later, I discovered not everyone drinks it for breakfast. Or drinks a pitcher per day…

We all create a normal for our family. One of the things we say at child dedication every year is to be intentional about creating a normal. If we default to the culture around us, normal is worried, stressed, working the bare minimum, and participating in church when it’s convenient. 

I don’t know about you, but I hope for more than that when it comes to my home and family. Whether you’re single, married, parenting, or empty nesters, we all get to choose what is normal for us. What would God have us choose as normal? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Healthy Community of Believers

   The normal of our culture is a false community. We have many friends on social media but few face-to-face relationships. We feel connected, but in reality, we are isolated.

   At its core, the church is a gathering of God’s people. To be the church, we must know and be known. This starts with attending a weekend service. But it extends to small groups and serving.

   Community is a source of accountability, joy, comfort, support, and many other things. God Himself lives in community: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

2. Physical Health

   Our physical bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Our mental, emotional, and spiritual states are connected to how we are physically. Our culture understands this idea in principle but doesn’t follow through in practice.

   Eating right and some form of exercise has all sorts of benefits from your body all the way to your soul. Create a normal of taking care of your body. 

3. Work Hard

   When we work, we know that our work reflects the organization that we work for. As followers of Jesus, our work reflects our citizenship in heaven and with Jesus. If we pray “in Jesus’ name,” we are also called to work in Jesus’ name.

   The Holy Spirit challenges us with this thought: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. – Colossians 3:23-24

   The simple question I ask myself is: Did my work today bring honor to the name of Jesus? 

4. Wise Steward of Finances

   There are many layers to this. The Bible is actually incredibly practical when it comes to finances. God calls us to intentionally honor him with the first of our earnings (Luke 11:42), give generously to others (Proverbs 11:24), save for the future (Proverbs 6:6-8), earn interest on our savings (Matthew 25:26), live content (I Timothy 6:6), and treat our money as if it belongs to God and not us (Matthew 25:14). That’s the start. The list goes on.

   The point is this: create an intentional normal around how you handle your money. Where culture is haphazard and celebrates instant gratification, God invites us to a much richer and more content path. 

5. Rhythms of Rest
   Ultimately, rest is an expression of trust. When we rest, we trust that God can handle things. Parents of young ones: this is hard. Rest is disrupted for a season. But where can you find rest?

   Our culture resists the idea of rest because there’s a belief that it all depends on us. At the core of the Gospel is the idea that we can’t do it, so we have to look outside of ourselves. A Biblical worldview tells us that God can do infinitely more than we can do, and He commands us to trust Him.

   Practically, this means sleeping adequately, taking a day off of work, doing things to refresh your soul, and enjoying what God has blessed you with. Rhythms of rest are a rich normal for a family. 

A few series back, Pastor Jason pointed out that there are riptides in our culture. There is an undercurrent that, while we can’t see it, pulls against the life that God has designed for us. Instead of surrendering to the riptide, we can intentionally create a normal for our home that honors God and leads to a more meaningful life.