Does Your Home Work?

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

–Colossians 3:18

I love the story about a man who was at the airport, and he asked a stranger what time it was. The stranger set down the two large suitcases he was carrying and looked at his watch. He said, “It’s 5:09 p.m. and 73 degrees. In London, the forecast is clear all week, and the barometer is 29.14 and falling. It’s raining in Singapore. . . .”

The man interrupted, “Your watch tells you all that? Where did you get it?” The stranger replied, “I actually made it. I’m kind of an inventor.”

Impressed, the man said, “I’ll give you $2,000 for that watch.” They haggled back and forth and finally agreed on a price of $10,000. The stranger gave his watch to the man, and the man paid him and began to walk away. “Wait!” the stranger said, handing him the two heavy suitcases. “Don’t forget the batteries!”

We have a tendency to take simple things and make them unnecessarily complex, don’t we? That’s certainly true when it comes to the family. As a pastor, I’m grateful for the plethora of books, sermons, and videos on how to have a successful family. But I think we’ve given people the idea that having a successful family is very complex. The truth is, having a successful family is not easy, but it’s not complicated either. In just four short verses, Paul gave us the ingredients for a successful home.

We’ve come to the final section of Colossians 3. In this chapter, Paul talked about how to be a heavenly minded Christian–in other words, how to become like Jesus Christ in your attitudes, actions, and affections. In verses 18–25, Paul gave two litmus tests to determine whether you’re a heavenly minded Christian: how you behave at home and how you behave at work. The home and the workplace are the crucibles that test whether you’re becoming like Jesus Christ.

In verses 18–21, Paul said, “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.” This week, we’re going to look at the first of these simple commands, including what it means–and what it does not mean–for wives to submit to their husbands.

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Today’s devotion is adapted from “Does Your Home Work?” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2012.

Adapted from Charles R. Swindoll, Simple Faith: Discovering What Really Matters (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2003), xviii–xix.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.