{"id":14981,"date":"2020-10-02T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotionfriday-2nd-october-2020"},"modified":"2020-10-02T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T05:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-friday-2nd-october-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-friday-2nd-october-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion\u00a0Friday 2nd October 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday 2nd October  Colossians – Home and Hearth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colossians 3: 18 – 4:1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart. Slaves, obey your earthly masters  in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.  Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters,  since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve  the Lord Christ.  For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong has been done, and there is no partiality.  Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, for you know that you also have a Master in heaven.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong>
Wives and husbands, children and fathers \u2013 we still have them today. And, let\u2019s not kid ourselves, we\u2019ve still got slaves; some held illegally, some trapped in slave-like working conditions. You can say what you like about the advice in these verses (and lots has been said), but the social and economic relationships they address are as important to us today as they were to people back then.
There\u2019s some distance between \u2018there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female\u2019 (Galatians 3:28) and, \u2018wives be subject to your husbands \u2026 slaves obey your earthly masters.\u2019  No wonder some say that the same person could not have written both.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got to say I\u2019m a bit bemused and disappointed with today\u2019s advice.  Being a child of my time, I\u2019ve no wish to make my wife subject to me, even \u2018in the Lord\u2019, I wouldn\u2019t dream of owning a slave, not even in a nice sort of way.  And I don\u2019t think these verses authorise me to do either.  O that the author had had the guts to be more radical than realistic – \u201cfamily members will live in equality and all slaves are to be freed forthwith\u201d \u2013 not just to advise people to live well within the rules of a very imperfect system.<\/p>\n

If I\u2019m really honest, though, I\u2019m not too disappointed.  Like most children of any time I\u2019ve little appetite to have my life uprooted.  Today, whilst sipping my fairly traded coffee, I advised some people to join me in donating to Christian Aid, not to destroy the world\u2019s skewed trade system, tearing down the pillars of the international economy and society.  I don\u2019t think they would have done so, even if I had asked.<\/p>\n

I wonder, how Christians reading Daily Devotions in two thousand years will judge my advice?  I hope they will be kind about my realism\/pessimism\/cowardice [delete as appropriate], but not feel obligated to do just the same as me in their time<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Master in heaven,
May I be just and fair to others whenever I know it\u2019s possible.
Make me braver in seeking out what\u2019s possible in the here and now.
Give me a vision for how the impossible can be made possible.
And all this in your good time – which might be now.
Amen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday 2nd October  Colossians – Home and Hearth Colossians 3: 18 – 4:1 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, … <\/p>\n

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