Before going on to other topics, I'd like to reiterate some of the things we've said in this Outreach about the blog: go ahead and comment, and give your own heartfelt views about some of the things we've discussed and talked about. :) We all learn from one another, and it would be great to learn from you.
How should we view our family?
1. Our family is a gift from God. In fact, everything we have is a gift from God. When we are single, singlehood is a precious gift from God that allows us to develop, train, extend our abilities, and to search within ourselves and to know who we really are as people. Some of us have this gift longer than others: some of us have less urge to get attached/married. Haha. But singlehood is still a precious gift from God. It is a precious gift up to the point when we discover that special someone we will spend the rest of our lives with. And some people never need to make that option, because God created them to be very happily single.
2. But when we have our families, the Scripture makes it clear what kind of pple we will be:
i) We will love and submit to our spouses out of respect towards Christ. There needs to be a mutual respect and submission, and as the Scriptures would have it, the man needs to take the lead in the relationship/family, demonstrating the kind sacrificial leadership that Christ demonstrated to the church, not the harsh dictatorial leadership which we are used to in the world. Similarly, wives need to submit to their husbands as the church does to the Lord--it's not as if you cannot speak your mind or voice out your honest thoughts, but when it comes to the crunch, where a decision needs to be made, you need to back up your leader, be a team player, and choose to work with your husband's decision, because whether right or wrong, we all know a team united around a leader, even if temporarily wrong, is always stronger than a team that made the right decision, but besaddled with power play. Besides, I felt that the Scriptures deliberately use the connection between Christ and the church, not to make things easy for either gender. The same issue is being dealt with: our selfishness, self-centredness and (thus) lack of surrender. Notice why husbands and wives need to follow the Scriptural injuncture: it is to get rid of our selfishness and self-preoccupation. Husbands need to love their wives as Christ loved the church, because it is a self-sacrificial love, that works for the good of the wife. Wives also have to submit to their husbands the way the church surrenders to Christ, because this demonstrates the kind of surrender we need to have towards the Lord, where we choose to let go of our will that "His will be done". Notice that when both parties look out for each other's interests rather than their own, they are actually practising mutual submission and love, albeit in different roles within the family.
(under construction)
2. But when we have our families, the Scripture makes it clear what kind of pple we will be:
i) We will love and submit to our spouses out of respect towards Christ. There needs to be a mutual respect and submission, and as the Scriptures would have it, the man needs to take the lead in the relationship/family, demonstrating the kind sacrificial leadership that Christ demonstrated to the church, not the harsh dictatorial leadership which we are used to in the world. Similarly, wives need to submit to their husbands as the church does to the Lord--it's not as if you cannot speak your mind or voice out your honest thoughts, but when it comes to the crunch, where a decision needs to be made, you need to back up your leader, be a team player, and choose to work with your husband's decision, because whether right or wrong, we all know a team united around a leader, even if temporarily wrong, is always stronger than a team that made the right decision, but besaddled with power play. Besides, I felt that the Scriptures deliberately use the connection between Christ and the church, not to make things easy for either gender. The same issue is being dealt with: our selfishness, self-centredness and (thus) lack of surrender. Notice why husbands and wives need to follow the Scriptural injuncture: it is to get rid of our selfishness and self-preoccupation. Husbands need to love their wives as Christ loved the church, because it is a self-sacrificial love, that works for the good of the wife. Wives also have to submit to their husbands the way the church surrenders to Christ, because this demonstrates the kind of surrender we need to have towards the Lord, where we choose to let go of our will that "His will be done". Notice that when both parties look out for each other's interests rather than their own, they are actually practising mutual submission and love, albeit in different roles within the family.
(under construction)
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