Romans 7:6, Serve in Newness of Spirit

Romans 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

By the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in the believer’s life, he brings forth spiritual fruit in his life. To serve in newness of spirit is to yield to ourselves to the mind of Christ through the diligent study of the Scripture through prayer. And it is my prayer that this begins in every Christian home. Piety begins in the home under the charge of every Christian parent.

In the book Character Sketches for Boys and Girls by Henry Davenport Northrop, in chapter 1, entitled “Starting Right or The Influence of Home”, the author highlighted for our consideration the importance of the home in cultivating the fruit of the spirit, “Only the right kind of a home can furnish the right start in the world. From a good seed and good soil grows a good tree, and even good seed cannot thrive well in a poor soil…Home is the first and most important school of character. It is there that every human being receives his best moral training or his worst; for it is there that he imbibes those principles of conduct which endure through manhood, and cease only with life. It is common saying that “Manners make the man:” and there is a second, that “Mind makes the man: but truer than either is a third, that “Home makes the man.” For home train training includes not only manners and mind, but character. It is mainly in the home that the heart is opened, the habits are formed, the intellect is awakened, and character moulded for good or evil. From that source, be it pure or impure, issues the principles and maxims that govern society.”

Henry Davenport Northrop further highlighted, “The child learns by simple imitation, without effort, almost through the pores of the skin. “A fig-tree looking on a fig-tree becometh fruitful,” says an Arabian proverb. And so it is with the children; their first great instructor is an example. However apparently trivial the influences which contribute to form the character of the child, they endure through life.”

May God bless every Christian home with godly fathers and mothers. Amen.