In Part I from last week, the first form of government is self-government or basically being a responsible adult and not acting like a child or irresponsible teenager. Unfortunately, there is no age or physical growth requirement that automatically turns you into an adult. You might be an adult in the biologic sense but it doesn’t take much to find people in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and on up that never grew up emotionally or mentally. They never became a mature adult as they kept their focus on their selfish wants.

The second form of government builds on top of the first. The name of it is Family Government. Before I go into some of the details, this should be an easy one to figure out. The role of parents everywhere is to tend to the variety of needs of a child so they can grow into a mature adult. If the father or mother is not a mature adult, they can’t teach a child to be something they aren’t. To teach anything requires knowledge and experience, guiding a child to become a responsible, mature adult requires the parents to be responsible, mature adults. If you have someone who hasn’t matured or “grown up,” the father or mother will pass on their lack of maturity problems to their children handicapping the children in an increasingly challenging world.

We did a rather detailed exercise with our daughter in this lesson. Since most Filipino’s are Catholic or Christian, this is especially for you. A child is given the responsibilities of respecting, listening to, learning from and obeying their parents. That is about where many people stop and ignore the main bulk of the directions in the Bible.

The bulk of the directions are for the husband and the wife. The husband or father gets the longest and arguably the most difficult list. Combined there are 15 detailed directions for the adult couple. Two are for both, 7 are for the father and 6 are for the mother. These instructions are found in Deut. 6:4-9, Proverbs 31:10-31, Ephesians 5:25-33, Colossians 3:19-21, and 1 Peter 3:7. The men are to be the leader in the house. Praise the works of the wife, love your wife and be willing to sacrifice your life for her, do not be harsh with them, be considerate, respectful to your wife and be a role model to your children not being a hypocrite or they will turn from you.

The wife is to support the husband in areas where he is weak, work in ways to show the home is an honorable home, follow the leadership of the husband, and respect him. These instructions are found in Gen. 2:18, Proverbs 31:10-31, Ephesians 5:22-24, Ephesians 5:33, Colossians 3:18, and 1 Peter 3:1-6.

Before anyone gets any ideas that any of this gives them the freedom to treat the children or wives or husbands lesser because they aren’t living up to those terms, go back and read Self-Government. Nagging, whining, complaining, and other selfish ways are not what a responsible, mature adult does but what a child does. Also, the greatest demand is to put Christ in the center of your life and not your own wants. It falls on the adults to teach it to the children in their words and actions. Tag we are it. (Imagine how much the pressure is on us since we did this project with our daughter. No excuses at all.)

If you aren’t a Christian or oppose Christianity, know this crucial detail. This government structure I am detailing works – if the family is truly a Christian family in actions and not lip service.

Thanks,

Anah

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