Spiritual Headship

One of the great motivators in my life is based on this question:  “What is the spiritual atmosphere my life is creating that will impact my wife, children and grand children?”

            I don’t know if you have ever considered that question, but it is something I think about every few days, if not nearly every day.  It is based on the concept of “Spiritual Headship”, which is a fancy word for saying that how I live my life in the spiritual realm will have a profound impact on my family, my business, and ultimately everyone my life touches.  I am the spiritual leader of my home.  I set the tone, whether we will be a family who honors God or just spends its time in recreation or pursuing the “American Dream”.  What I set as priority for myself will affect directly what atmosphere is dominant in my home.  If I spend more time with the sports page than with God’s Word, that will show up somehow in the spiritual level of my home life.

            This gets really convicting for me, personally, when I think about the secret sins in my life that no one else knows about.  Yes, it is possible for me to sit piously in church on Sunday, looking very saintly, holy to the core, raising my hands in worship at just the right moment so everyone will notice—while entertaining lustful thoughts about someone across the room.  Yes, it is possible for that to happen.  But if I allow that to happen, and the decision is totally up to me and me only, it will set a limit on my true spiritual condition.  If I allow that lust to remain, it will take over more and more areas of my life until finally, it breaks out in open sin others can see.  The great spiritual leader/pastor who suddenly runs off with his secretary and leaves his wife and family to pick up the pieces did not do so on a whim of the moment.  He lost that battle against lust over and over, maybe hundreds of times, when no one was looking or knew what spiritual battle he was fighting.  He should have been doing warfare against that spirit by taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 

            When applied to my family, this template for personal holiness is the only way I know to set a spiritual atmosphere that my grandchildren will be drawn by Holy Spirit to follow hard in righteousness after God.  I work very hard, every day, at keeping my mind and spirit pure, unblemished by sin.  In doing so, I am directly contributing to an atmosphere of holiness that covers my wife, children, and grandchildren. 

            You can, from this day forward, choose what your internal spiritual house will look like.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  Write me if I can be of help.