Don’t make your family pay for your day!

Don’t Make Your Family Pay for Your Day
Colossians 3:17–21

“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

The word “submit” may draw the most attention, and obeying parents may frustrate some children. But I think “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them” may be the hardest instruction for me to practice. Before you get an attitude with me, please listen!

It is easy for our family to pay for the problems of our day. A tough meeting, a traffic backup, or a packed schedule can leave us with barely enough energy to function, much less love well. We want to withdraw and focus on ourselves. Yet Paul says, “Love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.”

That means caring about someone else’s needs, even when you are tired. It means refusing to snap at them because of a frustration they did not cause. Your round of golf, difficult coworker, or frustrating client should not be taken out on the family you love.

Our families should experience compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and mercy from us. We should be humble rather than haughty, ready to serve rather than demanding to be served.

I keep coming back to verse 17: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Whatever you do includes life at home.

As a pastor, it is easy for me to focus on being godly at work, with church members, or in the community. But Carlin and Cooper should get the best version of me. My wife should experience Christlike love from me, and my son should receive encouragement, not just correction.

What is one way you can intentionally show godliness to your family today?