Discipleship

Where A Man Belongs

Do not let the rhetoric of unbiblical feminism cow you into thinking that Christlike leadership from husbands is bad.   It is what our homes need more than anything.   For all your meekness and all your servanthood and all your submission to your wife’s deep desires and needs, you are still the head, the leader.

What I mean is this: You should feel the greater responsibility to take the lead in the things of the Spirit; you should lead the family in a life of prayer, in the study of God’s Word, and in worship; you should lead in giving the family a vision of its meaning and mission; you should take the lead in shaping the moral fabric of the home and in governing its happy peace.   I have never met a woman who chafes under such Christlike leadership.   But I know of too many wives who are unhappy because their husbands have abdicated their God-ordained leadership and have no moral vision, no spiritual conception of what a family is for, and therefore no desire to lead anyone anywhere.

A famous cigarette billboard pictures a curly-headed, bronze-faced, muscular macho with a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth.   The sign says, “Where a man belongs.”   That is a lie.   Where a man belongs is at the bedside of his children, leading in devotion and prayer.   Where a man belongs is leading his family to the house of God.   Where a man belongs is up early and alone with God seeking vision and direction for his family.

(Desiring God, John Piper, pp. 217-218)

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