Role of the Husband

Session #2 of our Marriage Mentoring/Accountability Group was titled "Look Up - Spiritual Intimacy." It was really neat to explore together the roles of the husband and wife when it comes to spiritual intimacy. Let's take a look at the role of the husband first.

Husbands, whether you like it or not, you are called to be the spiritual leader of the family. Ephesians 5:22-6:4 spells out pretty clearly that the husband is the head of the home, and should take responsibility of leading his family spiritually. This is probably not a surprise to you, and you have probably heard this before. But, what exactly does this mean? Is the husband supposed to carry around a Bible, constantly quoting Scripture to his wife and kids, all while preparing to check off that he led a family devotion and prayer that day? Well...not exactly, but here are some very practical things that it does mean:

Spiritual Intimacy - The Role of the Husband
1. Personal spiritual growth - "The greatest gift you can give your marriage is for you to develop a real relationship with Jesus Christ," Love and War by John and Stasi Eldredge.
2. Corporate worship attendance - take your family to church (Hebrews 10:25)
3. Example in worship - don't just take your family to church, show them how to worship
4. Example in serving - get involved in church
5. Example in tithing - show your family the importance of giving
6. Incorporate God into daily life - one of our group members said it this way: "have the mindset of Christ" (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
7. Pray for your spouse and children (James 5:16)
8. Pray with your spouse and children
9. Include God in decision making
10. Lead the family in moral standards
11. Devotion/Bible Study with spouse
12. Family devotion time (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
13. Discipline of children (Ephesians 6:4)

As you can see, there are many components of being the spiritual leader of the home, but these are some great practical examples of how to fulfill that role. During our session, we asked the wives to rank the roles listed above in order of importance in their eyes. Let's be honest...it is really hard for guys to tackle several things at one time. So, we encouraged the husbands to take the top 2-3 that were most important to their wives, and focus on improving those areas over the next couple of weeks. The goal is to eventually incorporate ALL of the roles above! Husbands, do something to be the spiritual leader of your home today...

Rusty and Heather