Who is the head of your life? Who is the head of your house? How you answer these two questions, will impact not only your life. But also the life of those who are near and dear to your heart.
Sunday was Mother’s Day and we started a new series at TCON entitled “Family Life”. Now back to Mother’s Day. Sunday was a mixed day for me. It was a great day, as I got to spend the day with the love of my life, Alisha. It was also a day of sadness, due to this being the first Mother’s Day without my momma. While there had been many Mother’s Day I was not able to be physically with her due to distance. It is the first year I could not contact her at all, as she went to be with the Lord in February.
So back to the questions at hand. Who is the head of your life? Who is the head of your family? As for the answer to the first question some of you might be thinking, “It’s 2018, I’m an American, I am the head of my life. I’m large and in charge, it’s all me baby.” Wrong answer. As for the question regarding the head of your house, you might be thinking something along the lines of the following. “Well pastor, no duh, the man is the head of the house, after all this is biblical isn’t.” Wrong. Or perhaps you are enlightened and you would say, “Travis come on what century do you live in, this is the twenty-first century. Get with the program man, there is no head of our house my spouse and I are equal.” Can you guess my response? Yep wrong again.
Sunday we looked at Genesis 3:8-21 and alluded to Genesis 4:1-11. Before we get into chapter 3, let’s take a look at how chapter two ends. “Now the man and his wife were both naked, but felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25, NLT). I have dealt with this in depth prior, so for the sake of time just let me remind you, this signifies they are keeping nothing back from God or each other. They are fulfilled just being in the presence of God. He is the head of their life and their union and their eyes are firmly fixed on their Creator.
Yet at some point God and each other, no longer were enough for this couple. So they took charge of their own life and destiny, ate of the forbidden fruit and so Genesis 3:7 reads. “At that moment their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness” (NLT). As we continue to read chapter three of Genesis we see the couple is confronted with their sin and reap the consequences. One thing I want to point out, is once they are confronted by God with their sin, they begin to blame each other, the serpent and even God. At no point do we see them taking responsibility for what they have done, even though they wanted to be the head of their life. So who is the head of your life?
Now let us explore the question of who is the head of your family. Let us go to chapter four of Genesis to explore this question a little deeper. In this chapter we are introduced to Cain and Able. The sons of Adam and Eve. As we read the chapter we see Able brings the first fruit of the harvest with an open, willing heart before God. Because of this attitude of gratitude Able’s sacrifice are accepted by God. Cain on the other hand seem to come begrudgingly, out of a sense of obligation instead of longing. Because of his attitude, these sacrifices are rejected by God. This rejection angers Cain and he takes the life of his brother. Causing him to be marked and sent further away from the presence and protection of God.
Every time I read this chapter I have to ask myself how this could happen. I have come to the conclusion the answer lies in the question of who is the head of their house. I believe in nature and nurture. Meaning there are some things we can teach our children like how to honor God. Then there are thing which are inherent like personality. I know, I am reading into this but I wonder if when they were growing up, they heard their parents play the blame game. Not too farfetched considering the episode in chapter three. I wonder if when Cain and Able were little if there was a power struggle in their house. I wonder how God was portrayed in their house.
The way we view God, is more times than not the way our children will see Him. If we see Him as a task master, more than likely our children will see Him the same way. If we see God as aloof, well you get the point about our kids. On the other hand if we see God as a loving, caring, active individual in our lives, worthy of all honor and praise; yep so will our kids probably. If God is the head of our life and our family, well you know what will probably happen with the kids.
I know their our exceptions to this, meaning there are kids who grew up in homes where God was the head of their parents life and their home and now they are far away from God. I also know individuals who were raised with a poor perception, image of God or no image at all and they have allowed Him to be the head of their lives and their homes. But I am sure we have all seem those smoking commercials from a few years ago. Where a dad catches his kid smoking and ask where he learned it. The child replies, “I learned it from watching you dad”. Well the same is true of our faith and relationship with God. So who is the lord of your life? Who is the lord of your house? Food for thought pastor Travis out.
