Genesis 3:16 – “Unto the woman he
said, … thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
The essence of Greg’s teaching is
that the original language has the concept that a wife will desire to usurp the
husband’s authority in the home, and that the husband will desire to be
obnoxious in his use of his authority. Greg said both these attitudes are wrong
and that we must struggle to overcome them.
Many men have confidence in their role,
but the general failure of the family in our time has caused turbulence in the
definition of our responsibilities. We need to confess our failures and turn to
Christ for guidance in being the men we are supposed to be, and allow women to
have the joy and confidence they will have when fulfilling the responsibilities
God has given them.
I don’t mean to say that women are
secondary to men in any sense. Women have tried to step up and fill the gaps
that men have abdicated – in being the Christian leader in the home, in labor,
in politics, in the rearing of children and so forth. But the notable absence
of men in these areas is damaging to the culture.
We must remember that Christ Jesus
gave great status to women and that scripture tells us clearly that we are to
be servant leaders:
Eph. 5:25: “Husbands, love our
wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it.”
Women have their own biblical
instruction, but until we men get the log out of our own eyes, we can’t afford
to be critical of our wives failure to live up to their responsibilities.
So what is our responsibility as
husbands and fathers? Abba has given us the responsibility to be the priest in
our home; to be the leader in service to God and our family. I don’t know why
Abba did this – maybe because men have such fragile egos that they need to be
given the authority. So what is the key? There’s an old story about a guy who refused
to buy a remote control for his TV …. “It’ll be a sad day when I get so lazy I
can’t tell my wife or daughter to go change the channel”. Hmmm, that doesn’t
sound right.
Mark 9:35 “… If any man desire to
be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”
True
servant leadership is not namby-pamby stuff but gives real power. Steve Brown
tells a wonderful story about when his daughters were young. When he told them
something they might do it reluctantly. When his wife told them to do something
they would jump because she was always there for them in an attitude of
service. You want power in your home? Start being a servant and you will get
it. Jesus said so.
My Lord, my King, my Savior
Have mercy on me
And forgive my lack of service
To You and my family.
Strengthen me O Lord
And allow me to begin anew
To be a servant
And to fulfill my
responsibilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment