Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today- December 3, 2011
“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.” Ephesians 5:23
Spiritual leadership in the home means that the husband serves. He serves his wife and he serves his children. This is not an option. This is who he is and what he does. Servanthood is at the heart of spiritual leadership. It is at the heart because this is how Jesus related to the church. He gave Himself up for the church. He sacrificed and served the church. It was not always easy and, ultimately, it led to the giving of His life. If a husband ever doubted his role, he need not look any further than Jesus. He is our role model of unselfish service.
So, your posture as spiritual leader in the home is not a power play. It is not a platform from which you whip everyone into shape. Rather it is an altar to God on which you offer your ego and pride. There is no room for those twins of self-centeredness. Spiritual leadership replaces pride and ego with grace and humility. A spiritual leader is energized and empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is not about who wins or who is right. It is all about dying to self and serving your wife and children. Your service to them earns you the respect to lead them. If you default to barking out orders from your high horse, they may comply for a season; but you can count on them rebelling if there is no relational investment on your part.
Rules void of relationship do facilitate rebellion, or they may cause the family to shrink back into their corner of compliance, nursing a wounded heart. Indeed, most husbands do not feel qualified to be the spiritual leader. God knows that, and this is why He placed you in this role of responsibility—so that you can depend on Him. Pray to God and ask Him for His wisdom and grace to carry out your calling as spiritual leader. Seek out a mentor who can come along side you and give encouragement and coaching.
The easy way out is to ignore your responsibility by placing it on the petite shoulders of your wife. She may be more spiritually mature and qualified for spiritual leadership, but this is not her role. She is to follow your leadership. The wise wife will celebrate this and let her husband lead. This is how you both grow. Submission and servant leadership are excellent lessons of maturity in Christ. Let your husband fail. Love him enough to respect his spiritual leadership. Respect is treating people at the point of their potential.
A wife has the opportunity to see her husband for what he can become, not for where he is currently. Pray for him to pray with you and the children. Pray for him to read the Bible at the dinner table. Pray for him to be honest and wise about finances, both personally and professionally. Pray for him to be authentic about his struggles. Pray for him to know God. Pray for him to take the family to church. Pray for him to discover his spiritual gifts and to serve out of his giftedness. Spiritual leadership takes a ton of prayer from the wife and the husband. A home led by a man who is a submitted servant leader is a home with a spiritual leader. Lead out of your weakness, and everyone becomes strong in Christ!
Taken from Dose #77 in the 90-day devotional book, Infusion.
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Wonderful devotion for both the husband and wife! So many wives want to lead and take control of their homes. We should follow the leading of Christ in our homes, which is the husband. This is the biblical order of God. Thanks for a devotion to make us more aware of the godly order in our homes. When we turn to God and his word, we can’t go wrong!
I read wisdom hunter regularly and today is spiritual leadership in the home. I am a single parent (father) raising my son, and was hoping that a devotional or your perspective to this in home order can be addressed. I understand God first, wife second, and then children; however as the only parent in the home, my child is currently first to me after God. I would like more clarity to this role. I had a Christian relationship with a woman to the point of engagement that failed. My question has more to do with developing a relationship with a woman while I have a child that is currently in the home and first to me after God. How can a woman understand that she comes before my child once married, however while dating she sees only my child coming before her. At what point or how does the future wife have reassurance that she will be first to me after God. One of the factors in this last relationship that failed had to to do with the woman believing that the order would not change. Please give me you insight about family order when the family is not in order?
Somehow I lost this devotional. Wisdom Hunters stopped coming to my email address before Christmas. Perhaps I sent it to a friend or family and they the “unsubscribed”? I had no intention of doing so. Can I become “re-established?”
Debby Woodhouse
Charlotte,
NC
Dear Debby~ We are so thankful that you are a fellow wisdom hunter. I am sorry that the devotionals were interrupted but we will do everything we can to make sure that gets fixed. Please let me know if you do not start receiving them again in the next few days. Thank you for letting us know.
We hope that 2014 will be a joyful and healthy year for you and yours!
Believing and trusting~
Gwynne Maffett
Wisdom Hunter
gwynne@wisdomhunters.com