A friend and I were speculating about a conversation that Adam and Eve might have had after they were forced to leave Paradise. Just think of the harsh realities that they faced suddenly by putting their own will above God’s. They played the blame game while they were still in the Garden of Eden. The former camaraderie was fractured by disobedience to God. Imagine what they said to each other as they stepped away from what God provided originally.
Adam: “Why did you listen to the serpent and take the fruit from the tree? Look at the mess you caused!”
Eve: “It’s not all my fault. You took the fruit, too. I was just trying to share.”
Adam: “What kind of a helpmate are you anyway? Here we are having to fend for ourselves.”
Eve: “You don’t understand me. You don’t love me. I wish I could go somewhere else where you are not and have a life of my own.”
Adam: “Okay. I am sorry. (He really did not mean that) let’s figure out what to do. “
Of course, this is a fictitious conversation, but it illustrates how a couple can turn on each other so easily. This is why on Father’s Day it’s so important to look to see what God says about a man and his family. Turn with me to the book of Ephesians for what Paul says about a father and husband as God instructed him.
Chapter 5
The relationship that wives and husbands reflect the divine relationship that Jesus has the with the church. Therefore, the husband is the symbolic head of the family as Jesus is the head of the church. When the wife submits herself to the husband, it is not a form of dictatorship. It is a form of cooperation for mutual goals of serving God. It is a form of reverence to the man.
Husbands are to love their wives as they would their own bodies. No healthy thinking man would abuse his body in any way. In demonstrating love to the wife, he is doing it in the same way he would honor his own body. The husband is to cherish his wife as he does his own body.
Chapter 6
Children are to honor their parents for the position they hold knowing that their parents are not perfect. God promises blessings to those who honor their parents.
(Dr. Jeremiah helps us understand this verse.) “Avoid provoking your children by exaggerating their faults or discouraging them with unreasonable demands. Small provocations can create major explosions. Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
Be strong in the Lord, and the power of his might. But on the whole armor of God as we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Allow me to conclude by going back to chapter 5 verse twenty-one that says, “submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord.”
Christian Writer 