Spiritual Leadership in the HomeSýnishorn

Workload

Matthew 6:25 tells us that God will take care of all the things people are anxious about, like food, clothes, and shelter. Our heavenly Father knows we need these things. He takes care of them. 

However, what often drives a man to become a workaholic is a sense of safety found in his work. We need to remember that our provider is the Lord, and He calls us to make living for Him preeminent—pursuing the things that make for godliness and righteousness. It is not righteous nor godly to neglect our wives, our children, or our church. If our work life makes it impossible to pursue righteousness in those realms, we must adjust what we’re doing at work. 

The Bible teaches us about home life in a time when the culture is mainly agrarian. Work was arduous, and it was all day long. We need to hear that the Bible expects us to take care of our wives and children even in that type of context. That was the culture when this command was first given. 

God does call us to work hard, and taking care of our families doesn’t mean that we need to be home all the time. Obeying God cannot require us to constrict our work to where we’re only working five to six hours a day. Rather than trying to truncate our work life, when the day comes to an end, we need to make sure we have enough in the reservoir to invest sufficiently in loving our wives and instructing our children. 

Our role as husbands and fathers means we are to be givers and servants. We have the perfect example in the Lord Jesus Christ, who came not to be served but to serve. He gave His life as a ransom for many. If we can have that same mindset, where we exist to serve, when we come home from work, we won’t think we’re being put upon by having to serve in other ways, such as listening to our wife, who spent the entire day talking to a five-year-old and has had no adult conversation. If she says: “Can we go over Bible lessons with the children?”, that is something we should embrace joyfully.

There is something great about putting your head down on the pillow at night knowing that you’ve worked hard in all the realms God has given you to be faithful. There is joy in that. We think we’re pampering ourselves by ignoring those responsibilities. Rather, we’re robbing ourselves of the joy found in working hard at the things God has assigned to us.

This devotional was based on an episode of the Straight Truth Podcast. Consider subscribing to the Straight Truth Podcast YouTube Channel. We release new episodes every Thursday.