Main Scriptures: 2Cor.6:3-8
More Scriptures: 2Cor.7:1, Ps.51:10, 1Pet.3:7
Giving no offence in anything that the ministry be not blamed. But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings in fastings (2Cor.6:3-5).
As the head of your family and the shepherd of your wife and children, you must never give room for offences, either between you and your wife and children or even outsiders. It is okay to be offended, but it is ungodly to keep the offence in your mind because if you do it breeds malice, hatred and bitterness. God has positioned you to lead your wife and children. And as the leader, you have some expectations from them. Sometimes, they fall below your expectations. The tendency to be disappointed is there. But as the good and godly husbandman, you must rise above their shortcomings and weakness. You must see your wife and children with the eyes of God, a compassionate and merciful Father.
So you may want to ask, what then is the right approach for me not to be offended in my wife and children? The answers are found in 2Cor.2:6-8. It says, by pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. To overcome the temptation to keep malice because of offence, you must deal with your wife and children in knowledge, that is the knowledge of Jesus as it relates to each one of them (1Pet.3:7, Col.3:21). And that begins in your mind. In Ps.51:10, the husband of Abigail, David prayed the Lord to create in him a clean heart and right spirit. Until your heart is pure and right towards your wife and children, your words can never be right towards them.
You must also exercise kindness and compassion in all your dealings with them. Jesus, the example of the perfect husbandman, was moved by compassion when the Pharisees brought the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. He saw the emptiness and struggle in the eyes of the woman. He saw beyond her weakness. And he declared, neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more… You must continue to see your wife and children in that light. And lastly, you must allow the word of truth to be your guide in all the decisions you would take on matters relating to your wife and children. As you engage these demands, your life will become blessed as the good and godly husbandman.
SPIRITUAL EXERCISE
· Father, in the Name of Jesus, deliver me from the satanic power of malice and bitterness.
· Father, in the Name of Jesus, cleanse me from every filthiness of the spirit and give me a pure heart.
· Father, in the Name of Jesus, shed Your love abroad in my heart and let it guide my decision.
FAITH CONFESSION
I let go the past and look to a glorious future with my wife and children and the world around me because that is what makes me the good and godly husbandman in Jesus name. Amen.
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