Good husband-wife, parent-child
relationships are a must in building the home.
Satan has sought to destroy the home
by attacking the divine order. Roles have been replaced, redefined or left
without definition. Today there are live-in lovers, homosexual
marriages, invitro and surrogate homes.
In many homes there is no head.
Instead of wives encouraging and helping their husbands to lead their families,
in some cases they have taken over the homes. In other homes, the men are
missing altogether. Too many husbands and fathers have neglected their
responsibilities in the home. Some are abusive and dictatorial and give little
consideration to their family.
Children do what they want. Parents
are afraid to punish them. Their training has been turned over to the
television or the YMCA. A visitor from the Orient was once asked what he thought
was the most amazing thing about America? "How well the parents obey their
children," he answered.
We need to return to God's design
for the home. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the
husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the
Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let
the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives,
just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it... So husbands
ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves
himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it,
just as the Lord does the church...Children obey your parents in the Lord, for
this is right. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment
with promise: "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the
earth." (Eph. 5:22-25, 28-29; 6:1-4; also cf. Col. 3:18-21; 1 Pet 3:1-7)
Until we get back to the divine
order there will be no chance for a real home in the houses in which we live.
