Tag: Husband

Be at Home

Ever wonder where we are to set up shop. Where are we to be all that God would have us be. The answer is where we are. We are to be home working for the LORD.

“4and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” – Titus 2:4-5 (ESV)

This morning I read this passage and wonder what I am I to learn today. The passage is titled in my ESV Bible, “Teach Sound Doctrine” and Paul is writing to Titus to encourage him in his ministry. Paul is indicating here the role of men and women and how they raise Godly men and women. Where there is a lot to the passage, I was led to the “working at home” statement. We are to work at home where we are.

Yes, Paul is speaking to women and their role here, but I was struck by an extension of it to all of us as followers of Christ. Men are to leave their mother and father to become one with their wife. Wives are to follow their husbands and run the home. Husbands and wives are to be together at home working.

In Lori and my life together, we have not always been working at “home” together. I used to travel 2-3 weeks a month and even at one point lived away from the family for about 4 months until they could finish the school year and we could again be together. Those times were hard. We were not always on the same page in our family. It was only when we came back together at “home” that things seemed to settle in and become more consistent. Lori even worked as a teacher for a few years in the town about 20 minutes from us and it was not until she got a job where we lived that things settled in.

I say all of the above to show that in our family, we are best when we are together at “home” where we are. We are to be a family where we are and not separated. The wife should be close to “home” to care for things there. The husband should be “home” more than not. Together the husband and wife should use “home” as their base of operations and teach their children to do the same.

When it comes to our Christian life, we should be at “home” where we are. I have written to the idea of having a church home where you are and I do believe that. We should also do the work of Christ right here where we are first of all. Our church vision is, to see “A gospel movement that reaches every person of the Hill Country and is carried to the ends of the earth.” We start right here at home. In my home I am to be at “home” with my wife and family doing the work of the LORD right here at “home”.

In our world today, it is common and socially encouraged to look for opportunity in far exotic places. To make a splash somewhere out there in the world. But the Bible teaches us to start right here at home. We are to first get our own home in order and expand out from there. We are to “Teach Sound Doctrine” at “home” where we are now and then allow that to be carried from there. We start by teaching our children that doctrine in our home and allowing them to carry it out to their home. That is the expansion we are to be looking for. We are to be and work right here at “home” where we are.

Where are you looking to God’s work? Are you seeking to make a big splash somewhere in the world? What if you were to do the work of the LORD, at “home” right where you are as your starting point?

Husband of One Wife

“2Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,” – 1 Timothy 3:2a (ESV)

“12Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.” – 1 Timothy 3:12 (ESV)

“5This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.” – Titus 1:5-6 (ESV)

The above verses speak to the qualification to be an overseer, deacon, and elder in the church. I also consider this to be the same for the followers of Christ. Whereas I have listed these four verses, they are not the only qualification. Regardless of the number of them, Paul has written of the specifics of being a leader or caretaker in Christ’s Church.

As I am studying the word “wife”, I am going to keep my eyes there in my writing this morning. In the qualifications of each of the positions in the church “the husband of one wife” is mentioned in each of them. And to go along with it, there is the “managing their children and their own households well”. How can someone be considered a leader of the church if their ow house and relationship is in chaos? If there is a lack of stability in the home that is led by the husband, how can there be stability elsewhere the husband works in.

“5for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” – 1 Timothy 3:5 (ESV)

I did say earlier that I believe these qualifications should be for the followers of Christ and not just those who are in positions of leadership or caretaker. I really mean that. When we are in Christ, we are to be fully in Christ and where it starts with our relationship with Him, it extends to our relationship in our home. The relationship with our wife and household is to be one of stability and lacking chaos from the world view. As Paul writes in verse 5 above, how can there be calm in church when there is not calm in the personal life. As a Christian, I am called to have the calm in my personal life to have calm in the church.

Removing the chaos starts with the relationship with our wife. She is the other half of us. Remember that she has a role in the household and we are to honor her and love her only. We are one (half me and half her). There is no room for another, as Paul mentions in the qualification of each, overseer, deacon, and elder. The same is for us as followers of Christ. There is only room for her and no other. When there is another, there is division of loyalty and that adds to chaos in the home, remember we cannot have stability in the church if there is not stability in the home.

Love your wife and hold her dear. She is the other half of you and she is the representation of the calm in your home that you can carry into being a follower of Christ.

What is your home like? Is there chaos? What if you were to calm things by managing your household, starting with being the “husband of one wife”?