The Ministry of Home – Season 1 Episode 1
Welcome!! It’s relaunch day of our podcast! For 330 episodes, we’ve been the Homemaking Foundations Podcast. But we are rebranding everything under our new name, including the podcast. So welcome to season 1, episode 1 of the Finding Joy in Your Home podcast. We are kicking off the new season with 25 foundational episodes.
Today we are talking about what the Ministry of Home is and more specifically: What is the purpose of life and how should we spend our time? So let’s dive into our first official episode under our new name. And don’t worry – ALL 330 episodes are still there!
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As a society, we are all searching for meaning. We deeply want to use our lives (and our time) well. We want to have purpose and meaning in our days.
The big question we all want answered: What does it mean to have a successful life? And where should we spend our time?
As Christians, this has to first and foremost start with God. How does God define a successful life? How does he say we should spend our time? <– This is where we are starting in this discussion.
You see, as Christians, God’s Word should be the back bone of how we spend our life and our days. But sadly, for many, being a Christian has become a secondary or even tertiary influence in our lives. Many Christians today focus on a worldly life and worldly pursuits and might fit God in when it’s convienent.
So as Christians, what is our point in life? The Westminster Shorter Catechism says this: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.”
Well there you go. That’s the entire mission behind our ministry and new name of: Finding Joy in Your Home.
How do we find that joy in our homes? When we seek to follow God and glorify Him.
How do we glorify God? By loving him and obeying his commands.
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”- Ecclesiastes 12:13
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” – Matthew 16:24-26
So we see, as soon as we dive into Scripture, that our primary purpose is to love and serve God. A big way of serving God is loving and serving others.
“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Galatians 5:13-14
So what does this mean for us in the context of loving and raising our families?
Our Ministry At Home
A successful life is not marked by:
- How much money we have in the bank
- How many degrees or titles after our names we amass
- How beautiful our homes are or how trendy we stay
- By juggling a giant career and being a mom
- Losing the baby weight so fast that no one even knows you are a mom
- …or a myriad of other things we find out worth in.
Those things are not bad in and of themselves. But they become bad when we mark these as a successful life.
Rather, a successful life is marked by a life of service and a joy that can only come through the Lord.
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” – Philippians 2:1-4
Raising a family, being married, living with other humans under one roof…all of this takes a great deal of love and service. Here’s the truth though: Most of our time and what we do…is not lived out in the big glorious moments of life.
>> Most of our life is loved out in the messy, mundane moments. <<
We live and serve in very unglorious moments. WE live between making breakfast and changing diapers, carpool lines and angry bosses.
We live in the everyday moments.
Every once in a while, something incredible happens like a beautiful wedding day or the birth of a new baby. It’s easy to see the glory and the joy in those big moments.
But it’s all those other moments that it gets harder. That we lose our perspective. So what does it mean to be a women who glorifies God within her home?
Simply put: We need to root and ground ourselves in the Lord. We need to have a focus on Christ that is so large, it over shadows everything else.
We need to have such a firm grasp on Scripture that we filter our experiences and worldly philosophy through what God says instead of letting worldly philosophy and feelings impact how we interpret Scripture and our relationship with the Lord.
And that’s what Finding Joy in Your Home is all about. Each week I will share a new topic relating to finding joy and how we accurately view this from a Biblical worldview.
My aim is to bring you deeply theological topics mixed with a thoroughly practical application.
Next week we will dive into the Gospel and our homes as we launch into our first 25 foundational episodes to kick off season 1 of Finding Joy in Your Home!
Join our New Community App!
The other very exciting news I have for you today is that our brand new community app has launched. You can come join our FREE app where you can join in on the discussion of THIS podcast episode and so much more. If you are looking for a safe and encouraging place to hang out online that will point you to Christ…come join us!
You can sign up for free here.
Meal Planning Help for Eating Healthy:
I am really excited to share with you the sponsor of today’s podcast episode: PrepDish! If you ever feel like you wish you had a little help in your meal planning, then I highly encourage you to check out PrepDish. They offer gluten-free meal plans and paleo meal plans.
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When you sign up, you’ll receive an email every week with a grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. After only 1-3 hours of prepping on the weekend, you’ll have all of your meals ready for the entire week. I absolutely love how easy they make it.