Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. (Colossians 3:18-21)
The family is at the heart of the God’s plan for human society. Already in the Garden of Eden, God made people male and female and created marriage. That doesn’t mean that every Christian needs to get married or that every Christian couple will have a certain number of children. God has unique plans for each of us! But God loves families. In fact, he gives specific directions for each member of a family.
“Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” The word “submit” isn’t very popular today. It flies in the face of the individualism that people treasure. Yet, Jesus gives Christian wives a different attitude. To “submit” means to voluntarily place yourself under someone else’s authority. Just like Christians submit to Christ, Christian wives submit to their husbands.
That doesn’t mean that Christian husbands get to do whatever they want. Far from it! “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.” In God’s kingdom, leadership means love and service. God calls on Christian husbands to love and sacrifice for their wives just like Jesus has done for us. It’s Christ at the center of a Christian marriage who makes God’s plans make sense.
That applies to children too: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” God wants Christian parents to teach their children about Jesus and train their children in what is right and wrong in God’s eyes. If that is going to happen, what do children need to do? Obey their parents!
But that means something for parents too: “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.” God calls on Christian fathers to teach and discipline their children with love that points them to the love of their heavenly Father. God has a lot to say about Christian families!
It’s great to hear God’s guidance. But it’s even greater to know Jesus’ forgiveness. Can a Christian family like this exist? It sounds too good to be true! Only through the grace of God. It’s Jesus’ patience and forgiveness to us that leads us to show patience and forgiveness to each other in the Christian family.
Dear Father, you created the family when you made man and woman in the Garden of Eden. Bless Christian wives, husbands, children, and parents with your grace to follow your commands. Amen.
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