“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.” Proverbs 1:8-9
July 31, 2023
The Christian family is to serve as an outpost, a domestic church in the community drawing attention to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In her book, The Toxic War on Masculinity, Nancy R. Pearcey sends a flare into the darkened sky of our broken society. The Greco-Roman culture of the first century was bereft of biblical truth, “Pagan society did not expect emotional intimacy between husband and wife” (p.52). In the historical context (vividly described by Pearcey) “the Christian view of marriage was nothing short of revolutionary. At its core was a new form of sexual equality.” The book of Proverbs and the impact of its teaching in Israel played a major role in constructing a new kind of civilization that developed over the centuries. The light of divine wisdom shined brightly in telling us that loving harmony between a husband and wife is the cornerstone of society. There is to be harmony in their physical relationship. Sexual sins are painted in the darkest of colors as Proverbs 5 does. In that context the husband is to “be intoxicated always in love” with his wife! (v. 19). Marital harmony between father and mother is to be foundational in rearing children. Fathers and mothers, in reading this are you in agreement in the instruction and counsel you provide for your children in setting them out on their spiritual journey through life?
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Fathers and mothers, do you share equal passion in love of God? Are you on the same spiritual journey? Are you praying for the wisdom your children need in choosing a life’s partner?