Are You Spiritually Leading Your Children?

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy of: Alabaster Co

"These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

~Deuteronomy 6:-7

I grew up believing that husbands alone are called to be the “spiritual leaders of the home”, that this was a God-ordained position that wives were kept out of.


And then I read and interpreted the Bible for myself and discovered something quite different within its pages.


I discovered that Paul’s message to men and women is the same in this area - he tells both that they are to manage their homes well.


The admonition to train up children in the ways that they should go is one given to both mothers and fathers throughout the book of Proverbs.


Children are told in Proverbs to heed the spiritual instruction of their fathers AND their mothers.


If we understood this more, wives and mothers wouldn’t find themselves in as much of a tizzy when their husbands don’t spiritually lead, because they would know that God has called them to do so, as well, and they can rightfully pick up that mantle.


When interpreting Scripture and forming our views of men and women and roles, we have to take things out to their logical conclusions and see if they still hold weight or not when we do.


And you know what? It’s actually really good news that the husband alone isn’t called to be the only spiritual leader of the home. Why?


Because if he were, the kids and I would have been in bad shape during my husband's deployment!


Because of he were, single mothers and fatherless children would be up a creek.


Because of he were, there would be no hope for the families whose husband and father refuse to lead in spiritual matters.


So, no, friend, don’t burden yourself -or your husband!- with the thought that he alone is to spiritually lead your family. Instead, understand that this is a call God has given to BOTH of you, and that you will each stand before God individually to give an account of how you stewarded the souls of those children entrusted into your care. Because leading children in the ways of God is a responsibility given to mother and father both - not just to the father. And that’s actually a good thing!

Reflection Questions:

1) Have you been taught to believe that only fathers are to lead spiritually in their homes? How can this belief actually be burdensome?

2) Have you been spiritually leading your family?

3) If not, what can you do to change that today?

from Woman to Woman
Umn ministry