Meditation on Family Life (Ephesians 5:21)

The Lord laid it on my heart, on the occasion of Father’s Day, to bless our fathers and our mothers and our children who may also be here, with a meditation on family life in general. And with that thought in mind, let us turn to Chapter 5 of Ephesians, beginning with verse 21:

The first person who is going to put on this hat today will be me. I am going to preach this to myself and to my family. All of us, all of us have much to learn and much to improve regarding our family life, and I pray that these will be words of life and energy within us, and that they will help us put them into practice; that they will give us energy to please the Lord in everything we do in our family life.

The word of the Lord says: “Submit to one another in the fear of God. Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, which is His body, and He is its Savior. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so also let wives be subject to their husbands in everything.”

That is the first thought, the first section, speaking to wives. Now comes the word to husbands, to married men.

Everyone say, “Love.” “Love.”

It says: “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, to sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water through the word, so as to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish. So also husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cares for it, just as Christ does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great, but I am speaking concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you also love his wife as himself, and let the wife respect her husband.”

That is the second section. It speaks to married men; first it spoke to wives, and from verses 25 to 33, to married men, to husbands. And now, in Chapter 6, it speaks to the children.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may go well with you and you may live a long life upon the earth.”

That is addressed to the children. Now it is natural that the parents should also be addressed. And verse 4 says:

“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.”

May the Lord bless His holy word.

There is a whole recipe for the family there. Brothers and sisters, if we could internalize and integrate this solemn calling of the Apostle Paul into our roles as fathers, mothers, husbands, and wives, family life would be idyllic; it would be an Eden. May the Lord enable us to understand this and, above all, to apply it to ourselves.

How difficult it is. How easy it sounds, but how difficult it is in daily life to integrate these truths when things get heated at home, and we are tired and in a bad mood, and something happens in family life that blows our fuses, and poor Saint Paul goes down the drain, and we forget this sound and simple advice. That is why it is important for us to return each day to meditating on the word of the Lord, and we must always remember it, because we are slow to hear and quick to forget this advice from the Lord.

The first thing that is important to note about this passage is that it is given within the context of a series of instructions concerning life in general. All of Chapter 5, verses 1 through 20, has to do with sound and wise counsel concerning the conduct of the family, family life, and also life in the church. And the Apostle Paul gives a series of instructions about family order, one after another, and then he moves squarely into this matter concerning family life specifically. But it is all part of a single thought.

And why? Because this very important matter of how we ought to conduct ourselves regarding family life, marriage, fatherhood, or motherhood is part of a healthy spiritual life and of the different habits and practices that we should follow. And that is why the Apostle Paul goes into this. In fact, when verse 20 says, “...always giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” verse 21 actually sounds as though it were a new sentence, a new phrase: “...submit to one another.” But in the original Greek, the idea is rather, “submitting to one another”; that is, there is continuity in the Apostle Paul’s mind between what comes before and what now follows.

Let us stop here for a moment, because verse 21 is very important, since it unifies everything that follows. It is as though that sentence structures everything else and the way the Apostle Paul organizes his thoughts afterward. He says, “Submit to one another.” It is important that we never forget this aspect of family life, because if you notice, the Apostle Paul establishes a kind of hierarchy of authority here. He says that the woman is subject to her husband, and regarding children and parents, he likewise suggests that children should be subject to their parents. And that was the prevailing tendency some 2,000 years ago, in a culture where men prevailed and men had unquestioned authority, and parents also had unquestioned authority over their children. And no one questioned that. No one questioned the man’s authority over the woman or the father’s authority over the child.

Later on, the Apostle even speaks about masters and servants, slaves. And the authority of the owner, the master of the slaves, over the slaves was not questioned either. And that is why it is so revolutionary that, 2,000 years ago, this man inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote, saying: Yes, it is important for us to recognize the structures of authority that prevail in society.

It is important for us as Christians to submit to the Lord’s commandments and to the order God has established in society, but it is important for us to qualify that statement with an idea that is more important than all the others: that there must be mutual submission to one another, where there must not be dictatorship, an imposition of authority, an abuse of power, or someone saying, “That is my privilege; I am the head of the household,” for example. Or a father saying, “I am your father, and I have unquestionable rights over your life. I can do whatever I please, and I do not have to answer to anyone in this house.”

That is why the Apostle Paul says from the outset, “...submit to one another in the fear of God.” That is, the use of authority in human life, in family life, must always take place with the understanding that although God has given us a certain authority in certain areas of life, we must never abuse that authority. We must always exercise authority with respect, with love, with justice, with fairness, with gentleness, with humility, with love. Christians exercise authority in the Spirit of God, in the spirit of Jesus Christ.

For me, the absolute model of how I ought to behave in any situation where the concept of authority comes into play will always be the Lord Jesus. And that goes further. It applies to the teachers in this church, who have students who respect them, but the teacher must also make sure to treat his students with respect. It applies in the same way to those who are supervisors in a factory or in an office. Those who work with you must submit to your authority so that the organization can function properly, but you must never abuse your authority. You must always treat the people under your authority with great respect and great humility.

Do you know that humility does not exclude authority, brothers and sisters? In fact, authority is often made more beautiful by humility. And you will never lose anything by being accountable to the people over whom you have authority and by treating them gently, affectionately, and lovingly. There will be times when something will have to be pointed out, and there will be conflicts, and you will have to be firm about something, but that must be the exception and not the rule.

I believe that a person who always feels compelled to use force, to point out his authority, and to assert his authority has something wrong with his leadership. Because I believe that when leadership is appropriate, things should flow naturally, and conflict should be the exception and not the rule. For the person in authority must govern things knowing, “Hey, I also have to answer to the people over whom I have authority.” That is why we hold these financial meetings. There are pastors who disagree with me—and God bless them—who do not believe that a pastor should be giving his church an account of how money is handled in the church. Because we are the pastors, we are God’s leaders, and we have the authority.

I believe that one should give one’s people an account of how authority is exercised in their church. Now, I believe that we pastors have a certain authority from God, but we must also make sure that our people feel taken into account, feel respected, feel that they are treated like adults, and that there is sharing, and an assurance that our needs and our preferences are being taken into account. There must be channels of communication to know what the church needs, what the people feel, and all of that must be kept in very good order.

Therefore, I believe that this explains what the Apostle Paul says here before beginning to speak in detail about different specific situations in which authority comes into play. He says, “...submit to one another in the fear of God.” In other words, those who are in authority and those who are under authority must always submit to one another. The person who has a certain level of authority from God must also submit to those whom he or she leads.

“...in the fear of God.” That is very important. That must always be what guides our leadership: that healthy fear of God, of not offending the Lord by mistreating others, of not offending the Lord through an abusive attitude, of not offending the Lord by being unjust, arbitrary, or insulting in the way I exercise my authority, but always acting with this awareness: “Lord, am I doing this well? Are You pleased with the way I exercise my leadership?” That is the idea.

I believe that when this relationship exists—when the person under authority submits, and the person in authority also submits in the sense of not “lording it over” the person over whom he has authority—what happens then? There is blessing. Because the person in authority is taking into account the needs of those he leads, and those he leads are submitting to those who have authority over them.

Brothers and sisters, I believe that this twofold perspective is more important in marriage than in any other relationship. Because in the twenty-first century, as a pastor, I hesitate before preaching that part which says, “...wives, be subject to your husband,” because I can already see that I need to hide back here behind the pulpit so that they will not throw stones at me. Because I know that in the twenty-first century this is difficult for many sisters and many women who run corporations, are bosses at their factories, and sometimes earn much more money than the man himself. They are better educated and sometimes even wiser. As Avila says, “Smile, Christ loves you.”

But it is difficult, brothers and sisters, in the social context in which we live, where any suggestion of a man’s authority over a woman is received like a jab of the spur into a colt—it immediately bucks. But it is the word of the Lord, and I cannot escape the word of God. And thank God that I can still preach this in this church. There are settings where I hesitate a great deal before quickly going through this passage, because it is not received at all, and that causes harm. And I believe it is important to understand this interplay: wives are subject to their husbands, and husbands are to love their wives.

I wish I could preach that to both parties simultaneously so that it would be properly understood. Because this is like a Swiss watch, in which one part is linked to the other. Each little piece depends on the other in order to function properly, and when one piece is not functioning properly, the others stop and become tangled, and then come the problem and the mess. When the woman submits to her husband and the husband loves, loves, loves—that is a very strong word—as Christ loved the church, then I believe there is blessing there. And unfortunately, when the man does not exercise his authority in a healthy, wise, Christlike way, he makes it very difficult for the woman to accept that word from the Lord and submit to her husband’s leadership.

I have just said the word leadership, and that brings a point to mind, which is that our relationship with our wives must never be one of lording it over them. We are not lords over our wives; we are leaders, and a leader is not superior. For example, as a pastor I am not superior to any of you. I am a child of God, in need of God’s grace just like every one of you, but I am your spiritual leader, and our pastors are your spiritual leaders, and in many of the ministries there are leaders; for example, today there is a group of ushers serving here in the church, and there is a person who is the leader of that group. Now, obviously, those leaders are not inherently superior to the people they lead. They have simply been placed in a position so that there can be order in the functioning of that group; they have been put in the position of taking the lead, so to speak, but they are not superior in any way.

So we, as heads of a household, are leaders, but our wives are “fellow heirs of the kingdom,” says the word of the Lord. That is, they are of the same spiritual rank as we are, they are of the same substance, and before the Lord they have the same authority and the same access. They enjoy the same gifts and the same prerogatives before the Lord that we do. There is no question about that.

I thank the Lord because, over the years, as I have preached on these subjects, I have become more sensitive with the passage of time and advancing age, gentler, more careful to properly qualify the things I say. And let me be clear: at no time am I saying that, because of the authority God gives him, a man has the right to smash things in the house, punch holes in walls, or come home with a scowl on his face, sulk, and make life impossible for the whole family. Many of us do that, but know full well that when we do it, the Lord’s judgment is upon us, and we must come out of that closed-off state as quickly as possible. We may fall into a moment of bad temper, but we need to know that right away that little angel comes and stands here on our shoulder and says, “Hey, be careful; you are sinning. Get out of there as quickly as you can,” and then we have to come out, ask forgiveness, and make things right. For the fact that we are in authority never gives us the right to be arbitrary with our families.

But it is important for a woman to recognize that mystery—I call it a mystery—that God has placed the man as the spiritual and executive leader in his home so that order may prevail. I believe the Lord “wired,” that is, established this in the very structure of the psyche of humanity and the family. The Lord declared it to be so. From Genesis to Revelation, I find nothing that contradicts it, either in the obvious texts that state it directly or in the texts that suggest it. There is an entire biblical system that points to this position of male leadership. And I tell you, for me it is more of a burden than a privilege. I do not see it as something to boast about, because when one is conscious of the great responsibility it entails, managing that privilege God has given us as Christ did becomes a very heavy burden.

I believe that if we men understood the tremendous responsibility involved in being leaders of our homes, many of us would say, “No, thank you, Lord; let her take it,” because it is very difficult to carry it out properly when you are a God-fearing person who wants to do it as Christ did with His church.

It says, “...wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord.” It could not be any clearer! The idea in the original Greek is that of placing oneself under authority; that is why it means submitting, placing oneself under authority. And that is a voluntary call. In the original Greek, the idea of “be subject” is implied because the form of the verb is neither passive nor active; it is the “middle verb.” It is not a command, but rather “be subject” is a state. Even the Spanish translation captures it. Be subject, as a condition.

I wish I had a skirt so I could speak to the sisters, because that would be more acceptable to you. I believe there is a blessing in the mind, emotions, and spirit of a woman, of a wife, when she voluntarily submits to her husband as to the Lord, and when the woman makes the decision to do so and takes that step in faith, believing that the Lord will bless her. I believe that if a Christian woman resists that command from the Lord, she harms herself and harms her family. Unfortunately, there are men among us who make it extremely difficult for our wives to take that step.

Just as there are parents who also make it very difficult for their children to submit to them. Because we make them suffer by putting them in a position no child or woman should ever be in: having to resist her husband’s authority. I believe that our goal—the goal of husbands—should be to make it as easy as possible for our wives to submit to our spiritual leadership. That should be our goal.

I say that a man who earns his wife’s respect and love is a giant and can lead a city, can govern a nation. Every man’s goal should be to bring his wife to the point where she joyfully submits to his spiritual authority and to his authority as leader of the home. That should be our goal. I ask the husbands who are here to ask ourselves this question: “Do I make it as easy as possible for my wife to embrace my leadership, or do I make it difficult for her through my behavior?” And may we make a holy covenant before God that, insofar as possible, our wives will feel joyful about our leadership.

How do we feel about the leadership of Jesus Christ? I believe all of us say, “Glory to God! How wonderful that He is over me. How wonderful that the Lord Jesus is my Lord and my Savior.” Why? Because Christ never exploits, never abuses, never harms, is never arbitrary, is always just, always loving, always forgiving, always patient. He cares for us, delegates authority to us, lets us use our gifts, and enhances our gifts. Who would not like that, as the Dominican merengue says? We should all be that way. If a husband exercises his authority in that same manner, I believe that a healthy woman, a wise and God-fearing woman, will say, “Well, I accept the leadership of that leader.”

But unfortunately, many of us do not do that. I do not say this, brothers and sisters, so that anyone will leave here feeling guilty; rather, this is a call from which we must all learn something. This is the Lord’s sound counsel. But unfortunately, there are many women today who do not accept their husband’s leadership, no matter how benevolent he may be, and sometimes no matter how blessed that marriage may be or how much effort that man is making to earn his wife’s respect. Because there is an idea that somehow this is not possible.

There are brothers in this congregation and in other congregations who love God, who know the Word, people of integrity, who are in favor of eliminating what I believe this verse implies and clearly says: “...wives, be subject to your husband as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife.” People have tried extensively to water down and dilute this word “head” through the Greek word “kephale,” but it is a very clear word. A head is a head; no matter how many heads you try to find for the head, it remains a head. “...The husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church.” How is Christ the head of the church? Well, He is the one who directs, the one who sets the tone, the one who stands in front. Well, in that same way the man is the head of the woman.

How is the church subject to Christ? Well, the church is subject to Christ by recognizing the Lord’s authority, acknowledging His directions, and adhering to Him and His directives; likewise, wives should be subject to their husbands in everything. There are two verses that address women, that give counsel to women, verses 23 and 24, but for men there are verses 25 through 32, which are about nine. There are three times as many verses for the man as for the woman. Why might that be? I believe it is because we men are more clumsy, more hardheaded, and need things explained to us more, and I believe that is what was in the mind of the Holy Spirit, because the truth that followed was so countercultural and so unexpected in the cultural context in which the Apostle Paul wrote that it required a more thorough explanation and more nuance.

That is why the Apostle Paul now says, “...Husbands, love your wives,” and that verb “love” is the verb “agapate,” from which the word “agape” comes, the most sublime expression of love that exists among humankind. In the original Greek, which is a very rich language, there are different words that refer to love: there are eros, storge, and philos. They are different kinds of love: the love of friendship, the love of brotherhood, the love of a child for his mother, the love of one friend for another, erotic, biological love. But there is a love reserved for that sublime feeling exemplified by the affection God has for humanity. How does God love? The way God loves: in a sublime, exemplary, divine way. The love that led Him to sacrifice His Son. The love that led Him to forgive our sins. When we were immersed in our sins, Christ died for us. The love that leads Him to forgive, to tolerate, to give Himself.

That love is very well developed in chapter 13 of First Corinthians: “...though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” That love is agape love; it is the love that we as husbands must express toward our wives. Husbands, love—everyone say, love—let us love our wives just as Christ loved the church. That is, in that economy of marriage, the husband must love his wife with the same love with which Christ loves, the same love with which God loves. That is our goal. I certainly will never be able to love my wife as Christ loved the church, but I must aim for it; I must do everything possible. That must be my goal, that must be my mission, that must be how I treat her insofar as possible. Husband who are here, listen to me. The word of the Lord calls you to love your wife in a very deliberate way. That is, it is an active verb. Love is not merely a feeling, a warm sensation. It is conduct. It is an act of the will, a way of life, a vision that must govern all your actions every day.

You must actively love your wife with the love of God. And in that love there is no room for selfishness, no room for arbitrariness, no room for emotional abuse, and certainly none for physical abuse. That should not even be mentioned among us. There is no room for you to arrogate to yourself the right to all authority and not share it with your children and your wife. There is no place for exploitation, no place for lies, no place for anything harmful and destructive. It must be a pure love. That is why it says, “...love your wives,” but he was not content to leave it at that; instead, he said, “...as Christ loved the church,” so that there would be no way out. How did Christ love the church? Well, he himself says it here: “...He gave Himself for her,” that is, even unto death. “...He gave Himself for her.” Christ loved the church so much that He died for her.

Husband, are we loving our wives in that sacrificial way? Do we make use of the authority God has entrusted to us to express the leadership of Jesus in our homes? May the Lord enable us to exercise leadership in our homes that is like Christ’s leadership toward our wives and our children.

How did the Lord express His leadership? He was a servant leader. You remember where that expression “servant leader” comes from, because on one occasion the Lord said, “...You call Me Lord, and you say rightly, for so I am.” Then He asked one of His disciples for a basin, a towel, and water, and told His disciples, “All of you, take off your sandals.” And suddenly the Lord began to wash and clean those feet, which I am sure smelled nothing like lilies. Imagine those sandals and those feet, covered in dust from walking along those Middle Eastern roads, and the Lord was not afraid to take those sweaty, foul-smelling feet and proceed to wash them—He, the Creator of the entire universe. And that scene was so scandalous to the Apostle Peter that he said, “Lord, no, I cannot allow something so scandalous,” and the Lord said, “Peter, if I do not do it, you will have no part in My family.”

There the Lord wanted to leave all humanity with an enduring image: we leaders must use our authority to serve those over whom we have authority, not to lord it over them. In our countries, leaders use the people to serve themselves, but in the kingdom of God leaders serve the people. We must try to serve the loved ones around us as much as possible.

Brothers and sisters, let us be servants. There is no better way to be happier in life, men and women, than to serve. Serve, serve! Forget about yourself. Serve those around you. Give generously. Let go, detach yourself, and you will see how happy you will be in this life. You will see how you will become an emotionally healthy person and a blessing to others. People will want to invite you to eat at their homes and will want you to come to their parties, because you will be an emotionally healthy, pleasant person. The person who is always exploiting, manipulating, serving himself with a secret, hidden agenda, lying, and pursuing his own self will lose what he is seeking. The Lord said, ‘Whoever loses his life will gain it, and whoever gains his life will lose it.’

When you lose your life and devote yourself to serving your wife and loving her, even the food will turn out better. She will cook better for you, bless you more, and love you more; and as you serve her, she will be a suitable wife for you. You are the one who benefits. That is why the Apostle Paul also says here, ‘...for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cares for it, just as Christ does the church.’ Why does he say that? Because if the man and the woman are one flesh, as the Bible says, when you abuse your wife, you are abusing yourself. It is a mathematical equation. If A equals B and B equals C, A equals C. If the two of us are one, then when I abuse my wife, by virtue of the mystery of marital unity, I am abusing myself. When you do not treat your wife as well as possible, you are harming yourself.

That is true, brother. The leader who abuses the people under his leadership harms himself psychologically. The man who abuses his wife and his children lives with a guilty conscience, has God’s judgment upon him, and the people who are supposed to love and serve him will not do so gladly; he will be a lesser person and will be under sin. Who wants to be in that condition?

Brothers and sisters, let us love as Christ loved the church. So, if the woman submits to her husband and the husband loves his wife, there is a great blessing in life. How about we pause here for a moment and bow our heads? For anyone to whom this applies in any measure, whether now or in the future, I want us to make a covenant at this moment. I want my leadership and my position as a wife—I want a marriage blessed in this way. I repent of anything I may have done to abuse my wife in any way. And, wife, ask the Lord to give you the ability to be a wife who submits to your husband so that this mechanism may work perfectly. Men who are gentle, humble, and spiritually healthy, and women who are likewise simple-hearted and submissive to their husbands. What a blessing! That is what we want for our homes.

May the Lord make that possible today. Father, we receive these words in the name of Jesus. I receive them in the name of Christ. Help us, Father, to have marriages that exemplify this truth. Father, forgive us when we have not lived up to that commandment. Lord, please help us. Amen.

Brothers and sisters, I have a couple of minutes left. I do not want to fail to address the children. But this is so important; as a father, it is also very close to my heart. Today I want to address every young person here, male and female. Young people in general, I want to address you for a moment, as well as the children and adolescents who are here. Please listen to this word from the Lord, because it is for you. The Lord has spoken to us fathers—or rather, to husbands and wives—and now He speaks to children as well.

It says, ‘...children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother—which is the first commandment with a promise—so that it may go well with you and you may live a long life on the earth.’

‘...children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment that has a promise in it, so that it may go well with you and you may live a long life.’

I wish I had more time to unpack that, young people and children, and I believe that it applies not only to young people but to all of us. The key word here is honor.

The key word here is honor. It is another one of those verbs. Just as it says ‘love’ to men, the key verb for children is ‘honor your father and your mother’; honor your parents.

Honor your father and your mother, it says. If every one of us, as children, honored our parents—I still have to ask myself that every day regarding my mother, who is 88 years old: Am I honoring my mother?

Am I honoring my mother? That is the question I have to ask myself as a son. Do I honor her? What does honor mean? It is not a kind of passive affection whereby you cannot tolerate your parents but treat them with basic respect. No, it is more than that.

To honor does not merely mean tolerating my father and submitting to him grudgingly. No, to honor means to give preference, with diligence.

To honor means to give them preference, to treat them with special care, with special respect, and with great diligence. It means showing affection, love, and respect. That is what honor means.

Honoring our parents means showing them special preference, loving them reverentially, and showing reverence.

To show reverence to our parents.

May our parents be happy to have us as their children. Do you know what one of the curses of the younger generation in our day is? They have lost honor for their parents.

One of the greatest sins of the young generation of our time is that many have lost that sense of reverence. We have lost it; through our culture, we have lost the reverence and honor that we ought to have for our fathers and mothers.

For many children, the attitude is, ‘I have the right; you have to support me.’ Nowadays, many children expect that it is their parents’ duty and legal obligation. But how wonderful it is when a grateful child makes it his purpose to bless his father and mother and to make dealing with and disciplining him easy for them.

When a father asks his child, ‘Look, can you do me a favor and get this for your mother, or do something?’ instead of going grudgingly to get it with a sour expression all over his face, he should say, ‘Of course, Mom. Of course, Dad.’ When it is necessary, give up a chair for your father or mother, and honor them in front of other people.

That is what we are talking about: being very diligent, showing love toward your parents, making it easy for them to be your father or mother, preferring them above all things, doing nothing to grieve their hearts, loving them actively, and obeying them gladly.

The Apostle Paul says that it is the first commandment with a promise.

It is the first commandment that has a promise attached to it. In other words, when God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ He also said, ‘so that it may go well with you.’ There is a promise there.

When a child honors his father and mother, a blessing will follow that child. I believe there are many people today who, in their adult lives, are not enjoying life as they should because there is condemnation upon them. They have not honored their father and mother; they have not treated them well. When a child understands this command from the Lord—that he must honor his father and mother—and regards it as something sacred, God blesses that child and prospers him in his future. There is a blessing upon him.

Now, when a child does not honor his father and mother, when he makes life difficult for them, the Lord judges that son or daughter. Are you honoring them?

Are you honoring your father and mother? Are you making it easy for them to be your father and mother, or are you grieving their hearts? It is very important that we ask ourselves that question.

It is important to give them preference and the care they need. Of course, for parents there is also this idea: ‘Let us not abuse our children; let us not be arbitrary with them; let us not oppress them or harm them; let us not lord it over them or make their lives impossible, because that is not of God either.’ Let us do it with a wholesome fear and love of the Lord.

What do you think? Wives who submit to their husbands, husbands who love their wives affectionately, parents who care for their children and treat them well, and children who actively honor their fathers and mothers. Does that not sound like a recipe for blessing, joy, and harmony in the home?

Glory to God; may the Lord make it so. May we seek this morning to incorporate these very difficult truths, because it requires us to die to self and to our hidden agendas. Let us die to our personal agendas so that the glory of God may be established and the Lord may then take charge of distributing His blessing as He wills, not as we wish while so often pursuing our own advantage.

Glory to the Lord. Do we receive this teaching, brothers and sisters? Receive it in your heart. Thank You. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord.