December marks the end of the year. It is the dying of the seasons, the lengthening of the night, the shortening of the days. Just as God has made His world “for signs and seasons, for days and years,” He has made human beings to live and to die. Life came by the creative hand […]
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Author: Rick Shrader
GPS – The Challenge of Older Age
Being a septuagenarian myself, I know many of the challenges of older age. Solomon called it the “difficult” days (Ecc. 12:1) but he also said, “the splendor of old men is their gray head” (Prov. 20:29). Moses encouraged us to “number our days so that we can gain a heart of wisdom” (Psa. 90:12). David […]
GPS – The Junctions in the Road
One of the things that is often overlooked in literature on the family is the wisdom we need when we make big decisions in life. I call these junctions in the road. When we come to an intersection that only has two alternatives, we can only take one of them. That decision will change everything […]
GPS – The Adorning of the Body
Since the fall into sin God has commanded that the body be properly covered in a modest and proper way. I Corinthians 11 teaches us that proper adorning of the body involves more than hats and hair. It is a matter of headship (3-5), a matter of modesty (5-6), and a matter of gender recognition […]
GPS – The Gift of Singleness
Singleness is a unique time in life that we all experience at least once. We all start out single until we decide to get married. But even married people may end their life single if their spouse dies first. There are other situations where a person may be single also. The Bible is not silent […]
GPS – The Stewardship for Children
We never stop being someone’s child. There are those times, especially when we’re young, that we wish we could stop—and those times, when our parents are gone, that we wish we could recover that family closeness. Our life as a child can be divided into two periods—those years we are under our parents’ direct control, […]
GPS – The Pattern of Complementarity
Complementarity is an old term that has come back into common usage. In the sense of a family or a marriage, it means that husband and wife are of equal value before God but have different roles in marriage. The contrary view is called egalitarianism, used by most feminists, which sees husbands and wives as […]
GPS – The Stewardship of Submission
Submission is a corollary of headship. It follows that if “the head of every man is Christ” (1 Cor. 11:3), then every lesser submission is a part of our stewardship to Christ our ultimate Head. All of these submissions come from the word hupotassō which always means submission to an authority. Submission in Creation (Heb. […]
GPS – The Structure of Headship
The subject of headship in the marriage and family immediately raises questions about equality, subordination, leadership, and love. The Bible says plainly that headship involves the Godhead, marriage (1 Cor. 11:3) and also the church (Eph. 5:23). These three spheres of headship teach us important things that relate to husbands and wives. God is the […]
GPS – The Creation of Marriage
The creation account of human beings and the dominion given to Adam and Eve necessitated the creation of marriage. Human beings were made male and female to marry and reproduce and the creation order placed Adam as the protector of the family and Eve as the mother of all living. Marriage thus became the foundation […]