TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR HOUSEHOLD

 

Introduction: -

Man is the crown of God’s creation. God saw that man cannot live alone so, He made the woman to be His helpmeet (Genesis 1:27-28, 2:20). In fulfillment of His pronouncement of blessings on man – multiply and have dominion - God made the man and the woman to procreate. The agent of procreation therefore is the home where the man is the husband and father, the woman is the wife and mother and their offsprings are the children. God ordained the institution of the home and the man is the head.

 

In 1 Corinthians 11:3 the Bible says “But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is man; the head of Christ is God.” Man’s leadership of the home is not in dispute.

 

First Responsibility:

One of the major functions or roles of the man is being the priest of the home. By this, he has the responsibility to lead the home in spiritual matters. He is to minister and stand as it were to present the family before God in line with the priest’s responsibilities in Leviticus 21. He officiates at worship by leading the family to confess its sins and through acceptable sacrifices, atones for the family’s faults – (Job 1:5).

Responsibility to Guide, Guard, Train and Provide:

He is to love, guard, guide, protect, encourage, provide, train and instruct the family in the way of the Lord.  Genesis 3: 9 & 17 – “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.”

 

It is the duty of the man as the priest in the home to demonstrate loyalty and love to God (Deuteronomy 6:5, 11:1) to Christ (Matthew 10:37, Revelation 2:4) and to others (Mark 12:31) and by his example, the whole family follows suit. He also has the responsibility to train his children in the way of the Lord (Proverbs 22:6). He should provide for the family and be ready to sacrifice his comfort sometimes, financially to sustain the family (1 Timothy 5:8).

 

Examples abound in the Bible. Moses was a Leader, Priest and Lawgiver. A moral teacher who was faithful in all his house – Heb 3:2. Abraham Gen 3:9, David – 1 Sam 22:14, Daniel – Dan 6:4. It is only a responsible man that is qualified to take responsibility for his household. Who then is a responsible man? A man of integrity – 1 Sam 12:1-15; Job 1:1-4; Cornelius – Acts 10:1-48. Jesus, our Lord is our model example who was a spiritually disciplined man in prayer – Mk 1:35; Lk 22:39-41.