I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 18th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the First Book of Timothy 3:5:

"for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?"

That's a serious verse. You see, charity begins at home, that's right. Another word for charity is to take care of your own family. It's to be loving, generous and kind. It's to have a godly lifestyle. If you and I want to be leaders in God's church, then we need to get it right at home first. It is no good wanting to go out to the mission field, young man, and preach to the heathen when back at the ranch, as the saying goes, the wheels are coming off. This kind of hypocrisy is what is keeping people from coming to Christ.

As a young married man, many years ago, trying to start farming on my own, with a young family, really struggling to feed my children, to dress them properly and to make ends meet, we would have a family turn up at meal times regularly, and of course, we would feed them - a young man and his wife and children. Jill would even give some of our children's clothes to the mother of this visiting family because we felt very sorry for them. But the problem was, the husband would not find a job. He was lazy, he would not work, and the worst thing of all was that he was always telling me that I needed to get my life right and follow Jesus as Lord and Saviour. He would always be saying, "Hallelujah, praise the Lord," but I did not see any fruit.

I would say to Jill often when that family left, "If that man is a Christian, then I will get to Heaven before he would!" But you see, that is what kept me from following the Lord. But who was to say that he was a Christian? He said he was. We shall know them by their fruits. We need to be very careful not to keep people from following the Lord by our sub-standard lifestyle. Let's get our home in order first. Let's make sure there is bread on the table for our families before we go out doing good works for others. Let's make sure that our children are disciplined correctly, and respect their elders, before we start preaching to others at Sunday school.  

Now, this is a hard word, I know, but it's a true word, folks, and we really need to lead from the front, so go out today and walk the talk so that people can come to us and say, "We want what you have got," and then you can introduce them to our beloved Saviour. 

Have a wonderful day and Jesus bless you and goodbye.