Responsibility of Provision

Are you your brother's keeper? What about the rest of your relatives? According to 1 Timothy 5:8 we are to provide, not just for our immediate family, but also for our relatives in need as well. According to this verse, to fail to provide for your family is to be worse than an unbeliever.

We as men have been given the responsibility to provide for our families. This provision is not limited to just food, a roof, and clothing, but extends to emotional and physical provision as well. Any time we start taking time away from the provisions of our family's emotional needs to try to "get ahead in life", we are betraying them for something far less important.

Sometimes, as men, it's easy for us to get caught up in providing for "a need" and leaving all the rest of the needs of our family behind. We choose to work 80 hours a week to provide for them monetarily, but we completely fail them in every other area because we're never there for them. We stop working to stay home and spend time with the family, lose our jobs and fail to provide for them monetarily. We get caught up in addictive behaviors that prevent us from providing for the needs of our family.

It's a very delicate balance that we as leaders must maintain, but with God's help it is possible. Often, if we'll take more time to pray with our families, all these things will more easily fall into place. If you find yourself having a hard time balancing things, talk about it. Talk to your family about their needs, and pray together about it. God will honor your prayer and faith in him, and your keeping of His commands.

Following Directions

This is one all of us men have such a problem with, we've been permanently stereotyped with being unable to perform this one simple feat: following directions. We want to be independent, self-sufficient, and not responsible to anyone. Unfortunately now, even I must swallow my pride as I read Proverbs 1:7-9. "Fools despise wisdom and discipline" are some pretty strong words.

There are two parts to this passage, specifically Proverbs 1:8. As all of us have parents, all of us should listen to our father's instruction and our mother's teaching. There is no cut-off on this; it is until we or they cease to live. As long as they live, they will always have more experience and life lessons learned, and we owe it to them to listen to their advice. We don't always have to do what they say, but we do have to listen.

We find out what kind of father figure God is in Exodus 34:6-7: compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, loving thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. This is the love that He extends to His children. As fathers, this is the same love that we should show our children. However, the rest of Exodus 34:7 goes on to say that He does not leave the guilty unpunished. We are still responsible to ensure that our children understand that their actions will result in consequences: good rewards for good behavior, punishment for bad behavior.

Exodus 20:12 even further confirms this, when God added this as the fifth of the Ten Commandments, being the first of the commandments pertaining to how men should treat each other. The first four commandments are how men should treat God, the last six how men should treat one another. This is another pretty strong testament to the importance of it, and it's the only commandment given with any good promise for obedience. Whether we're eight or eighty, let's remember this important command, and listen to what our parents have to say; let's make sure that we provide wise instruction to the children who are listening to us.