Wednesday in the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time

Colossians 3:18-19

Rules for Christian Households

The family was the first institution that God ordained in creation: one man and one woman and then children.  Later renditions strayed from this standard: polygamy, concubines, and now legal fictions and impossibilities such as same-sex marriage.  Divorce and illegitimacy have worked unimaginable woe, especially for boys raised without fathers who then have no one to teach them how to be men.  Feminism, which is responsible for much of this, denigrates manhood even more contriving such barbarisms as “toxic masculinity” which only furthers the confusion of boys over what manhood should look like.  And girls also suffer when a father is missing and eventually wind up looking for love from males who care not at all for them.  And now we even have calls for the dissolution of the nuclear family for a more tribal understanding, as well as the dissolution of gender altogether.

Yes, we have made a mess of things when all we had to do was obey God’s simple rules for households.  But we must begin with some groundwork which previous generations took for granted.  God has made men to be providers, protectors, and pursuers.  (Of these three, protector is most crucial to manhood.)  A man must earn his manhood in these three areas, and he spends both his boyhood and manhood doing just that.  God has made women nurturers, which naturally follows motherhood.  As the man is naturally the leader of the family, the woman is naturally the center of the family, the one who is closer to nature as she is closer to her own body than a man is to his.  As such, she understands her children’s needs better than her husband; indeed, if she is a really good wife, she will even understand his own needs better than he does.

The gift of family God gives by his common grace to all.  But in the Christian faith, it receives an anointing.  And so wives are to submit to their husbands, “as is fitting in the Lord.”  It is our relationship to the Lord that changes everything about our relationships with one another.  It is not enough that she submits but must do so in the Lord.  Likewise, husbands are to love their wives and not be harsh with them.  A pagan might be as harsh as he pleased with his wife, but not a Christian husband.  Just like his wife, his relationship with the Lord changes his relationship to her.  He now must love her as Christ does and must lead her by godly example.  Our pagan culture pulls us away from these truths with lies whereby they try to convince us that gender and rolls are merely social constructs.  But Christians shall adhere to Scripture and have marriages which are “fitting in the Lord.”

Author: The Reformed Baptist

My name is Stephen Taylor, ordained Baptist minister of eighteen years pastoral experience with a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Better than that, I am married to a godly woman, Karla, who has been very patient with me since 1989. I have two daughters, both of whom I homeschooled for extended periods of time, who became godly young women, and who ran off and married godly young men, all of which is very proper. The oldest daughter has even seen fit to bless me with a grandson and a granddaughter, and my youngest daughter with a grandson, all three of whom are bundles of exceeding joy. As you can see, I am quite blessed. This website is dedicated to helping people grow in the wisdom and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ through the gift of writing that the Lord has given to me. It is specifically about helping His people grow in godliness, the theme you see repeated above. I write devotions with this aim and hope that they might be of some help to God’s people. Full disclosure: I am of a Reformed bent, meaning that my understanding of Scripture is primarily informed by the Reformers and their successors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, as a student of church history and theology, I strive to remain true to that teaching handed down once for all unto the saints through every age of the Church. I like to think of myself as a “catholic” Christian, as the Reformers thought of themselves. At any rate, feel free to read, pray, and contact me if you wish, or correct me if need be. As you can see, I tend to follow the church year. Of course, I make no special claims about these devotions. I know very well that others have written better and plumbed the depths of God’s word with greater insight. But if my musings help someone draw closer to the Lord, well then, I have my reward. Blessings to you and may the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ speak to you that word which He knows you especially need to hear. Grace & peace, Stephen Taylor

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