I Timothy 5:1-2 Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.
I have recently been teaching my son to drive, and he has picked it up quite easily. It has reminded me of the days when I learned to drive. I remember learning to drive a stick shift in a church parking lot in Manchester, Tennessee. Learning to drive took practice and work, but I felt like I had done it before. The reason I felt that way is because I had watched my dad do it thousands of times. There are so many things in life I feel like I have done before because I have seen it done at home. That is the genius of God’s plan.
I Timothy 5 shows us that healthy relationships are to be learned at home. I learned to drive a stick shift at home. I learned how to treat my wife by watching how my dad treated his wife at home. I learned how to treat other ladies, my pastor, and young or elderly men at church by watching how my parents treated them. Healthy relationships are to be learned at home.
I Timothy 5:1 says, “Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.” God assumes that I know what “as a father” means, and, indeed, I do. We are talking about respect. When the Bible says to treat the older woman as mothers, we are talking about protection and care.
None of us have perfect homes, but if you won’t do right at home, you will struggle everywhere else. If you don’t teach your kids how to honor authority, love siblings, and do what is right at home, they are not going to know how to treat people at church. The reason we struggle at church many times is because we are not exemplifying at home what should be our habit and way of life at church.
If I do right by my wife, chances are I am going to know how to treat other people at church. If I treat my sibling well at home, chances are I am going to know how to treat a brother or sister at church. If I don’t do right at home, there is no reason I would do right at church, and if I do, it is a sham at best. Treating people right at church or work is important, and it begins by practicing at home.