Taking Responsibility:
One of the most essential qualities required is the capacity to take responsibility or be responsible. As a man, we are to be responsible in our roles.

Taking Responsibility:
One of the most essential qualities required is the capacity to take responsibility or be responsible. As a man, we are to be responsible in our roles.

In the Old and New Testaments, we find that God charged men with honouring him by taking great care of his creations. You must remember that after creating Adam & Eve, God commanded them to take control over the whole of creation. It was their responsibility, but they failed. Humankind's role has always been to look after this planet and the many things that live upon it. Nevertheless, history and stories tell us of our continuous failures. Men have simply given up their responsibility.

What about the responsibility in the family life today? Regretfully, with the quick and never-ending declining moral standards and the adverse effects of the shifting cultural roles, men seem no longer aware that they remain responsible for their families. What would happen if fathers remained passive or unavailable? The consequences can be devastating! Unfortunately, they are already devastating in many countries, and our little island is no exception.

Children become more disobedient and disrespectful. Wives become increasingly anxious and frustrated, burdened with needless care (many of which were never meant to be their responsibilities). Finances and daily schedules become tangled and chaotic. Family communications frequently become stressful and antagonistic, if they ever exist!

The sad part is that many wives believe the only way to avoid or rectify their family's problems is to take charge of them themselves. In so doing, they are assuming responsibilities God never intended them to shoulder. This does not seem bad; somehow, someone has to stand up for the family and the problems. However, in doing so, they unwittingly foster other, more severe issues.

Therefore, my fellow men, think about it for a minute: what can a wife do when her husband no longer shows interest in making decisions?

She no longer receives the support or commitment she desires from him and begins to shut down emotionally and physically slowly. On the other hand, what interest can a man have when his wife boldly demonstrates her self-sufficiency? No longer experiencing the respect and admiration he needs from his wife, the man likewise begins to distance himself from that relationship. As he retreats, the wife assumes more authority and responsibility. While this is going on, the kids are watching.

Sociologist Winter once observed, “We tend today to assume that we can eliminate the authority of husband over wife, and yet retain the authority of husband-wife over the children. The Bible is more realistic about marriage than modern man, for the truth is that in disobeying the one hierarchy, we destroy the other.”

We all know that in the business world, when a business fails, it is always the head of the company who is held responsible, not the ordinary workers. So, as the head of the home, the husband and father are responsible for the condition, whether good, bad, or indifferent.

As the Bible mentions, “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive” 1 Timothy 3:4. Husbands have been given the stewardship of the household!

How is that project going?
Just look around us; we find many broken homes, fragmented families, and lonely children. If we dig into these situations, we find that the root cause is the refusal of the man to take responsibility.

Ask yourself, is there any indication that you might have failed to accept the mantle of authority (and not of dominion) that God has given you?

It’s great if you are the head of a well-ordered home. But if this is not the case, there is no reason to despair. You can still be the head of your home and the husband God intended you to be.

What can you tell about your responsibilities? Are you passing them down to others, or are you standing up?