Becoming a Leader Again
Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and that certainly includes the distortion of the man-woman relationship in the home. His grace is sufficient to free us from our sinful patterns and lead us into the freedom and joy that comes with obedience to his revealed will.
IT’S YOUR HOMESCHOOL DAD!
Specifically, the Lord wants to help you and me to become the leaders of our wives and children. The headship of the husband is still God’s plan, and Jesus is our perfect model for how to implement that calling (Eph. 5:23,25). We can and must follow his example.
Above all else, we must simply accept the stark fact of our responsibility. Authority always carries with it responsibility. It is inescapable. Authority can be delegated, but responsibility cannot. We can and must enlist our wives to help us raise our children, but we remain totally responsible for the process.
Consider a ship’s Captain and his crew. The Captain delegates authority to those under him in the complex process of running his ship and delivering it safely to its destination. But the Captain remains totally responsible at all times. If he is in his quarters sleeping when a petty officer or seaman makes a mistake that damages the ship, the negligent underling may be disciplined for his error, but the Captain is still accountable to his superiors and may lose his command. He delegates authority, but he remains responsible.
So it is with a father. He is totally accountable for everything that happens in his home. He is answerable to God for everything his wife and children do, or don’t do. They bear their own personal responsibility for their actions, but the overall burden is always his. When on the day of judgment the Lord inquires about the conduct of the family and the training of the children, it will be the father who renders an account.
However, then, a father may view the process of homeschooling in his family, the fact is that it is his home school. He may sit on the sidelines and leave it all up to his wife, but that does not mean that he is not the leader; it only means that he is a poor leader. Because a leader he is, for better or for worse.
So we might as well exercise our leadership since we are going to be held accountable anyway! Since the decision about curriculum, for example, is our decision whether we make it actively or passively, we might as well be active in the process.
Most of us have inherited a good bit of our original father’s penchant for wanting to avoid responsibility. However, we will be no more successful that he was.
Realizing that we cannot escape responsibility may not be the highest motive for learning to practice leadership, but it will do for starters! Once we have begun, we must then keep our eyes on our new Leader, the Lord Jesus, and learn from him what it means to embrace headship
That wraps up this broken down series of It’s Your Homeschool Dad! Now incase you have read over this and said, wow this seems familiar, it came from Coming In The Clouds. I may have added a word or two for easier reading, but it is still their idea and creation. I hope that you have enjoyed it.
Finally, husbands of homeschooling moms out there, stand up and be the man that God as made you to be!