Hey guys, can you think of any more daunting a task than that of raising and leading the family? What is incredibly amazing about it is that one can undertake this important role with little to no instructions. For the past several days I have been mulling over my assignment for the next Large Group Connection. I will be bringing our devotional connection on November 22nd and I have several ideas buzzing around in my head. However I do not want to be guilty of answering questions that no one is asking.
So I thought I’d ask you to help me out. What are some of the questions you have about your God given role as the Priest of your Home? What do you think is most misunderstood about the role? Again I have my ideas but I want to hear your thoughts.
I look forward to hearing from you to make our connection around God’s word a powerful and most meaningful time.
Hi friends,
In response to Pasor Everette’s request for questions about “Priest of the Home”, I do have a couple of comments and a question or two.
It really is a daunting task to be the Priest of the Home which includes being a husband and a father.
Being the father of 3 girls, I have read just about every Christian book out there dealing with raising godly children as well building a strong Christian marriage. I think that at times being the Priest of the home is misunderstood for being King of Your Castle. My questions are:
1. How has the “Priest of the Home” idea changed within the Christian community over the last few decades as the role of a man
has changed in the home over the years as well? For example, helping more with the kids, changing diapers, helping to clean the house, etc….
2. What is the difference between being the Priest of the Home and being the “King of your Castle”?
Just some thoughts to help the discussion along. Hope no one take offense.
Oscar
Thanks for posting Oscar!
I don’t think anyone should take offence, these are exactly some of kinds questions that I beleive we should ask and address if we are to be relevant to our western culture.
Everete
Your question leads me to think about the fact that in otdays’ culture in the west we have several differnet kinds of marriages/families. The Traditional, The partnership just to name a few I think that both of these can be supported by scriptures. Your “King of the Castle” comment intrigues me, what exactly do you mean?
Everette
First, this is a great forum for discussion! I really like the set-up. Now for the topic at hand; one of the greatest challenges I feel I have is being consistent in being the priest of the family. There are so many time demands and this sort of speaks to the idea of living the “talk” seven days a week rather than just at specific times. My wife and I have tried to present a seamless life between our family life, work life, and church life so that it is one life. Although I feel this is something sorely missing in our society, it’s really hard to do day-in and day-out. Any guidance in being focused all the time would be great!
I think I get the gist of Oscar’s “King” reference but my question would come from the opposite direction. How do you deal with those times that as “Priest” you have to be “King”? It’s somewhat of an easy thing with kids but not so easy with a wife – or is there never a time when you should be “King” and make “rulings”?
The high priest is the one who ministers to God and who receives His instructions for the assembly (family). The problem that we have as modern people is that we are too often guided by our ethics, convenience, personal interests and biases. The Hebrew priest was successful when he did what God told him to do and when he conveyed that information to the people. When the priest took his eyes and ears off of God and used the Law instead, the nation failed as did the priethood.
I find it interesting that the priests of Jesus’ day heard the word of God spoken to their hearing. (Romans 10:17) They didn’t get faith. Jesus said it was because their father was the devil.
So, it could be said that when we take one step toward self-reliance or self-determination in family matters, we take one step away from God. …And the family pays for it accordingly.
In the love of Jesus,
Tom
I like Randy’s thoughts of attempting a “seamless life” for I think as men it is far to easy for us to compartmentalize. We think in terms of my job, my family, and my church. While it (compartmentalization) serves us well for study and analysis I think it can and often does present us problems with understanding the bigger overall picture. The conundrum is how can we see and integrate these into the synergistic whole? That is, how is being the priest of my home synonyms with being a provider, father and godly husband?
Priest of the Home – What does that really mean to me? It means that I am responsible for what comes in my home and what goes out. It means that there is divine government set up in my home that governs what I watch on TV and what web sites I go to on the web. It means that divine government governs my behavior not only at work but at home.
I love the web site.
Dwight Parlin