Does Your Home Have a Living Room?

What is the purpose of a living room?
When I think of a living room I think of a place in the center of the home that people come together for fellowship, hospitality, family worship, singing, devotions, sharing stories, playing games (NOT video games) and creating memories.
But all living rooms don't have life.
Todays living room can barely be called a living room. Maybe we should rename the living room to entertainment room. Todays living room is a place where everyone is gathered together to fight for the best spot on the couch to see the big game or a place where children are made to stay in order to keep them "out of our hair" while we tend to the "more important" things in life. A living room is now a place for movies, football/basketball games, video games, sitcoms, and rarely is a place of true Christian fellowship. I'm not saying all those things listed above is always wrong, but how often do we come together just for good old-fashioned fellowship instead of for the purpose of seeking entertainment.

If you would love for your living room to be truly living, here are some ways to bring it to life:

1. Turn off the noise.
Turn off the t.v., the computer, the cell phones, the radio. At first this will feel awkward if you are always used to having some sort of noise going on. Expect your children and husband to walk into your home and think something is wrong. That's because we they have become more comfortable with all the noise and uncomfortable with silence.

2. Get creative and have some fun!
Let the children act out a story, come up with some fun family friendly games, share stories from your family tree such as how you and your husband met or what their Great Grandparents did when they were children, start an interesting chapter book and take turns reading out-loud as a family. I'm sure there are numerous ideas you can come up with if you just turn off the noise and think about it.
Your children will probably not enjoy the ideas that you come up with at first if they are used to always being entertained. They will over time learn how to be creative and actually prefer being together as a family. My son still thanks me to this day for selling all his video games about 4 years ago. We spent all the money on a huge wooden playhouse. He tells me how he would have never enjoyed the outdoors or learned as much as he has about birds, trees, gardening, and wildlife if he would have been allowed to spend all his childhood on entertainment. My children all love spending time as a family and have found that moving our t.v. downstairs helps us keep our living room living. We haven't had cable for years, but watch dvds for educational purposes. Whatever distracts you from building lasting relationships with your family needs to be removed. We will not look back on life 20 years from now and wish we would have spent more time watching football games, movies, or playing more video games. We build relationships by conversation, by spending quality and quantity time together.

3. Make sure Christ is the center of your home.
Without Christ our homes and hearts are without life. Have you repented of your sin and truly surrendered your life to the Lord?

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

All the entertainment that you allow in your home; is it stealing time away from your children or your spouse? Is it robbing God of spending time in prayer and Bible study?
Is entertainment killing your relationships and the joy that used to be in your home?

The devil hates the institution of family. He hates more than anything when he sees parents and children lovingly spending time together praising the Lord, reading God's Word, and sharing stories of the Lord's faithfulness. Entertainment has made war in the center of our homes- the living room.

Does your home have a living room?

"Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home.”
David Frost

“Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America--not on the battlefields of Vietnam.”
Marshall McLuhan quotes