Every husband/father deserves a proper homecoming each day for taking their God-given responsibilities seriously and to heart the best they know how.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed their Father’s instruction it upset the peace at home in the Garden. These two children of God were afraid of their Father’s return. But after they had both blamed others for their act of disobedience their Father punished their disobedience (Genesis 3:14-19) but then provided a covering for their shame which they both felt for the first time. Now with their Father’s covering they were not afraid of His return.
Father God does not want His children to be afraid to see Him.
For a man, coming home is to feel the same as going home felt to Jesus after He finished His work on earth. I’m not comparing what Jesus did on the cross to a man’s daily work, for there is a huge difference there; incomparable. Jesus was looking forward to two things: resting from his work and being with the ones that He loves. Whether your husband is gone all day, or all week, or has been away the whole year on military duty, or on some mission field to further Christ’s gospel – he deserves a proper homecoming.
Unlike women, God gave men the title “head of the house” and so husbands and fathers deserve to be treated with a proper home-coming no matter what your opinion of them is. (I’m not including those husbands and fathers who are verbally or physically abusive to their wives and children.) Families today, for the most part, have left the right order of marriage and family. Our heavenly Father will judge this in the end and re-establish His order of creation.
Mothers should train their children to serve in the home. If done with love and reward it will fulfill a child and bring joy to the mother and honor to the father. But, in most homes children are masters instead of servants. Training your children to serve you can bring out the best in them. Children, like any servant, will perform joyfully when you show them respect and acknowledge their worth and show them that you trust them. Your children will grow up and thank you for how serving you helped them to see the honor and benefit in serving God and others.
My husband, the father of our four children, took his position as head of the family and provider of us all – very seriously. When my husband lost his business of 18 years we all wanted to help bring in some finances so he would not feel so much pressure. I started cleaning houses. Our children each found a way to make money too. God blessed us all.
The Lord made us all successful in our own little way. The children learned through this hard time about the pressure their dad had in financially taking care of a family. When they had to supply their own spending money they soon learned how to make better choices because now it was ‘their’ money they were spending. The girls weren’t ashamed anymore to go thrift-store shopping with me. That first Christmas was thrift store gifts, and we sure had fun finding gifts for each other. You can always find a way to make a loss a meaningful opportunity for the family, or to make a hard time adventurous and fun. It’s about perspective and faith in God because “with God all things are possible.”
This loss of our business was a time that really strengthened our family of six because as we prayed together we each saw the Lord open doors for us. As we worked together we saw the Lord leading my husband through open doors that he would not have gone through had he not lost the business. Coming home from a hard work day was so important to him.
Like I said before, it’s about God’s men – gals. We need to make our homes and children ready to welcome home the head of the family each day. Where else will your husband and the father of your children get loving support and rest from the daily pressures of the world?
I just heard a report about men today in America; that most of them born and raised in America do not want to work, and are not working. They are either living at home with their parents, living off our welfare system of government entitlements, or living off their wife’s income. Shameful! Shameful for men like this who can and should be working, and for their parents enabling them, and for a government enabling lazy and irresponsible men.
As I look back at the different things that came against us, our family, I can see how it made us a close family. I see our adult children, married with their own children – faced with difficult situations in life, and how they are overcoming with their faith in the Lord and love for one another. I see that our four sons (2 of our own and 2 son-in-laws) take their responsibility as husband and father seriously and enjoy coming home to their wives and children each day. Thank You Father God!