Your wife shouldn’t have to drag you off the lake to attend worship. She shouldn’t be the one leading the charge for family Bible reading and prayer. And she shouldn’t be the one who has to suffer for your lack of spiritual mindedness. Why? Because, dad, you’re called by God to lead your family spiritually.

It’s not optional. Husbands and fathers have a calling on their lives. You may not be a pastor, a deacon, or plan to go to seminary (and why should these be thought of as prerequisites to leading your family?), but God looks to you as the spiritual leader of your home.

Two places in Scripture will be enough to show your biblical responsibility, Ephesians 5:23, 25-26 and Ephesians 6:4:

“For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the Church, He Himself being the Savior of the body….Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…” (Ephesians 5:23, 25-26; NASB).

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4; NASB).

Husbands are to love their wives like Christ loved the Church. This certainly would apply to their spiritual welfare. And fathers are to bring up their children in the ways of God. Of course, a mother teaches her children too, but ultimately, it is the father’s responsibility as the head of the house.

This is not asking the impossible. The Lord will give all of us grace to perform His will. Seeking to live a godly life, reading the Bible with your family, praying with them, giving them spiritual advice, and bringing them to worship services, is a good deal of what this looks like.