Fatherhood can be an amazing and fulfilling journey with immense responsibilities attached. Fathers strive to be role models, providers and protectors for their family; yet finding balance among work, family life and faith may prove to be challenging. Wait…I think we have it backwards here. Shouldn’t it be faith, family then work?
The Culture vs. God
Well, that’s the purpose of this post. How do we set priorities as fathers? We live in a culture where men, and increasingly women as well, define ourselves or find our identity in what we do to earn money – our careers, vocations, educational attainment. It’s often how we introduce ourselves in most settings and is usually among the first two or three questions we ask each other when we meet. I’m not saying that this is wrong per se, but I think it does reflect our cultural prioritization of work as a means of identity and obsession with achievements and titles to lift ourselves up. But what does God say?
When we read the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, we see first that God says the He brought us out of slavery, therefore we should have no other gods before Him. We owe God our very lives. In Him we move, breathe and have our being. He set us free from the law of sin and death. God is very clear – He comes first.
God is first, who or what comes next?
So, if God is first, who or what comes next? Family or work? This might be where it gets a little tricky. But I think if we look closely, we can see how God directs here. When thinking about this question, my mind goes a couple of places:
In Genesis 14, after a Abram rescued his nephew Lot, his family and others who were taken captive, he met two kings: the Melchizedek, the King of Salem and Bera, the King of Sodom. The King of Salem (we won’t get into his identity here) brought Abram bread and wine, blessed Abram and pointed Abram towards God, giving Him the credit for the victory. The King of Sodom, on the other hand, asked Abram for the people, encouraging Abram to give up the people and take the goods. However, Abram refused saying he would accept nothing belonging to the King of Sodom.
Similarly, we see in Exodus 10 that Pharaoh only wanted to allow Moses to take the men to freedom, and leave the women and children behind, but Moses wasn’t going for it. Bringing this into context, sometimes we get caught up in our own pursuits and accomplishments that we leave our family behind. These historical accounts, I do believe that God shows us that our families are to be valued more than the spoils of victory and we should be just as concerned about their well-being as we are about our own. So which is it? Family or career? I believe God has called husbands and fathers to lead in sacrifice. We are to love our wives the way the Christ loved the church and give our lives for her. The well-being of our wives and children came before career. No matter how high we ascend the corporate ladder, it should never be at the expense of our families.
In conclusion, how do we set our priorities? We set them according to the Word of God, which says: Faith and obedience to God first, and attending to the well-being of our wives and children second. Our careers and everything else falls in line after these two.
Did you enjoy this Foundation post? Check out more Foundation posts from the Homemaker’s Husband, Ashon Nesbitt. Also, please feel free to meet the rest of the family and help us grow!
