SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/10/2019 9:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Submission of Parents”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:4
Message of the verse: “And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
John MacArthur begins this second main section with a
sub-section in which he entitles it “The Negative Command.”
We can see that Paul begins this verse with a negative
command “father, do not provoke you children to anger.” John MacArthur comments that this is a
totally new concept for Paul’s day, especially in such pagan strongholds which is
speaking of Ephesus. During this time
period in the Roman Empire the Father could do about anything he wanted to do
to his family, including his wife and children.
He could do anything from selling them as slaves to having them killed,
just because he wanted to. John
MacArthur writes “A newborn child was placed at its father’s feet to determine
its fate. If the father picked it up,
the child was allowed to stay in the home; if the father walked away, it was
simply disposed of—much as aborted babies are in our own day. Discarded infants who were healthy and
vigorous were collected and taken each
night to the town forum, where they would be picked up and raised to be slaves
or prostitutes.
Let us talk about the word for fathers used here in verse
four: “Though pateres (‘fathers’) usually referred to male parents, it was
sometimes used of parents in general.
Paul has been speaking about both parents in the preceding three verses,
and it seems likely that he still has both in mind in this term in verse
4. The same word is used in Hebrews
11:23 to refer to Moses’ parents.”
When we look at the words “ do not provoke your children
to wrath” this probably means that both parents had the ability to do this
although the father in that day was the dominant figure in the household.
John MacArthur writes “Harvard University sociologists
Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck developed a test (that proved to be 90% accurate) to
determine whether or not five-and six-year olds would become delinquent. They discovered that four primary factors
necessary to prevent delinquency are:
the father’s firm, fair, and consistent discipline; the mothers
supervision and companionship during the day; the parents demonstrated
affection for each other and for the children; and the family’s spend time
together in activities where all participated.”
I have left out a couple of paragraphs that I did not
comment on from MacArthur’s commentary simply because they are very hard to
read, but the very sad part of this is that when I look at the things that are
happening in our country today I see some similar things that are going on, and
the thing that in my mind are the cause of these problems is something that I
have mentioned many times in these SD’s.
Of course the basic problem is sin as all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God as seen in the book of Romans as Paul was building his case
about this fact in the first three chapters of that book. Evolution is, in my opinion, one of the
things that has caused many of our problems in this country today. If you think about the story of the child at
the father’s feet determining whether or not the child will live or not and
then think about evolution where we all came from an accident and are heading
nowhere then one can understand why children are treated in the womb in our
world today why they are. If a couple
wants a girl and finds out they are having a boy, then they just get rid of the
baby before it is born.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Teach children
the word of God when they are young so that they can understand their need for
the Savior and therefore trust Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord so that as
they grow up and continue to learn from the truths of Scripture that when they
grow up and are married they can do the same for their children.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Continue to live my life so that the
Holy Spirit will fill me so that I can continue to learn more of humility.
Quotation from “Love in
Action:”
“Look on my right hand and see,
For there is no one who acknowledges me;
Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul.
Psalm 142:2-4.”
9/10/2019 10:02 AM
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