Managing Well

“He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” 1 Timothy‬ ‭3:4-5‬

This is one of those passages is easy to skip over because it refers to official leaders in the church. I know that I am not a pastor, an elder or bishop. That doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be applied to the lives of believers.

Manage – Strong’s G4291 – proistēmi in the transitive tenses to set or place before; to set over. (a) to be over, to superintend, preside over

Household – Strong’s G3624 – oikos by metonymy, the inmates of a house, all the persons forming one family, a household:

Again, it’s easy for me to cop out and say man is the head of the household, since I’m married. As a wife though, I still preside over my home. I have duties as a wife, mother, and daughter. If I am not managing well my family, then I need to take a step back from ministry. My first priority is to manage well my family.

I admit most of my kids lives, I was not good at managing a household. In part, I was young and spoiled. As I grew older, I had my priorities all messed up. I put work and service before my family. God clearly did not intend for that to occur. I put my kids before my spouse, which was wrong. Though I thought I was putting God first, I put service before personal relationship with Him. I went through the motions. I was faithful to the letter of the law. I had too many walls that I used to compartmentalize my life from God to follow the Spirit of it. I tried y to control what I gave Him access to..

All the while I was trying to help others manage their lives, their families. Not always through church, although I was generally involved in at least children’s ministry. I was in a position of leadership in the community through my career.

Looking back I can certainly see the times that I was most effective is when I was making intentional efforts to manage well my household. When I put my relationship with God first, he lined things out in the other areas. When I was honoring my husband, our children benefited. Not that God didn’t use me at other times but I certainly didn’t make it easy.

Prayer – Lord, I am blessed that Your grace covered my children, who are now productive adults. Thank You for grandkids that give me a second chance at getting priorities straight and being able to help their parents do the same. I am grateful that You protected my marriage and that despite a divorce, and the filing for a second, we have twenty-two years behind us and still going strong in our thirty years together. I am glad that You have given me a front row seat to the transformation of people’s lives and that I can share You and the lessons I’ve learned with confidence. Thank You for helping me see my mistakes, forgiving me in my repentance, and redeeming the time!!!