7 Steps To Building A Christian Family Part 5

Episode 330: 7 Steps to Building a Christian Family — Part 5

Text: Deuteronomy 6:6–12 (review of 6–9, new focus on 10–12)

Recap of Steps So Far

Underlying foundation: knowing God — building a real, living relationship with Him (not just a salvation moment).

1. Fear God — reverent awe + healthy fear of consequences.
2. Keep God First — requires ongoing self-examination ("Lord, am I keeping you first?"). This is similiar to the purpose of a revival: intentional, recurring evaluation of the heart.
3. Love God with heart, soul, might/mind/strength — loving God with total, unguarded enthusiasm.
4. Teach God's Word Diligently — not just memorization but application, so Scripture "pops up" in the heart in the moment of decision or conviction (Proverbs 6).

Step 5 (this episode): Enjoy God's Blessings Wisely (Don't Forget God in Abundance)

Deut. 6:10–12 — warns Israel that once they live in houses they didn't build, drink from wells they didn't dig, and eat from vineyards they didn't plant, and are "full," the danger is forgetting the Lord.

• This step "nails us as Americans" — most people live in homes they didn't build, eat food they didn't grow, and eat out of fullness/abundance rather than hunger.
• God is not against blessing/prosperity — the text itself promises houses, food, and abundance as gifts from God. Nice homes, cars, and possessions aren't inherently wrong or "spoiled."
• Caution: don't confuse God's blessing with the American Dream. Someone can have the bigger house, nicer car, or yacht and be completely unblessed if their family and relationship with God are falling apart. True blessing shows up as peace, joy, love, and gentleness in the home — not material markers.
• Scripture ties blessing to obedience/pursuit of righteousness (referenced the Deuteronomy blessings/curses passage and the pattern seen across Joshua vs. Judges) — but this isn't a strict formula; God remains gracious even amid failure.

Practical Application: Enjoying Blessings "With Care" / Frugality

• Money has two purposes: to live, and to give — live more frugally (smaller home, older-but-nice car, lower payments) to free up margin for giving and to avoid overwork that outsources parenting to daycare/babysitters.
• Have a grateful heart as a discipline — actively resisting complaint over aging cars, food choices, etc., which the hosts frame as a subtle form of forgetting God.
• Practical family habit: praying before meals with genuine, unhurried gratitude rather than rote routine; teaching kids a thankfulness verse; verbally noting "isn't it amazing we get to eat like this?" as a repeated family phrase.
• How blessed are you? In your blessings, are you forgetting God?(e.g., packed schedules of travel/activities, expensive Christian schooling, but no family devotions, gratitude, or altar at home).