Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:21
God's reign starts in the home. Each and all of us are under the jurisdiction of Jesus, and His way of living suffuses our most private places and most personal moments. In our home, there is nowhere to hide, and no one to fool; integrity is a necessity as we practice our faith. Because Jesus is the legal head of the house, spiritually speaking, the “man of the house” doesn't rule over his children any more than his children rule over their parents. The man of the house is himself a child under the heavenly Father's authority. The man of the house is granted “delegated authority" to distribute Jesus's love, instruction, and protection to His family. In this mysterious way, the home is a commune with no one person above another, but all are under Christ. Home, then, is the geography where Christ's love is perfected.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord…Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Ephesians 5:22,25
Yet, the family is not only a commune, but also a hierarchy of authority. The family structure is both a circle and a triangle. God entrusted the man with the first authority and responsibility to care for the others; the man was made in God's image and is to reflect the self-sacrificing God to his wife and children. Similarly, mom, alongside her husband, is an image-bearer. She too has the first responsibility to grow and nurture her children in the ways of the Lord. The children's temperament, memories, and sense of direction in the world are shaped by the emotional culture mom and dad set. Will the man and wife's children be nursed at the breast of anxiety, distraction, busyness, and self-interest, or raised in an environment of peace, affection, cooperation, and security?
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right…Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:1,4
Our home nests need to be fletched with the soft down of affection, compassionate touch, and conversations filled with shared kindness. But they also need the structure and thistle of truth and consequences. Together, these prepare our children so that when they launch from our nest, they will not be ruthless and reckless but will be mature sons and daughters who have learned to respect others, live under authority, and surrender to the true King.
God designed the home to be a nest of love that incubates children into His image—truthful, creative, strong, caring, resilient, discerning, and compassionate. Is your home-nest a briar patch of worry, consumption, and self-interest? Or have you filled it with the character of the good King? Let us keep filling our lives with Him and expressing His awesome love towards one another.
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