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Key Bible Verse: Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it (Hebrews 12:9,niv). Bonus Reading: Hebrews 12:5–11

Lunching with a businessman from Texas I'll call Barry, I asked, "What's the most exciting thing God's doing in your life?"

He pondered for a moment, then said, "All my life I've been known as 'good old Barry.' Even my family thought I was soft and easygoing. But after I became a believer five or six years ago, I realized that much of my good-guy thing was weakness and a desire to be loved because I was insecure. Now Christ is giving me the freedom to lay down rules for my family and to back them up."

"What does your family think of you now that you're no longer a 'good guy'?" I asked Barry.

"It's amazing," he answered. "They all like the new me! I think the fact that I'm taking spiritual and moral leadership in my home has given them rules and structures that they've needed for growth and maturity. It's brought my wife and my children and me all closer together."

Jesus saves us from all kinds of pitfalls and wrong thinking about ourselves … so that we can love those entrusted to us with a more complete and liberating kind of love.

—Bruce Larson in The Edge of Adventure

My Response: For my family to benefit from my spiritual leadership, I need to …

Thought to Apply: When home is ruled according to God's Word, angels might … stay with us, and wouldn't find themselves out of their element. —C. H. Spurgeon

Adapted from The Edge of Adventure (Word, 1974) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

O God, make me Exhibit A in my family of Your transforming power.

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