house? He touted himself, "I make all the big decisions, and leave the little ones to my wife." "What de cisions do you let her make?" someone asked. He replied, "Oh, she can determine how the money should be spent, how to discipline the kids, where we go on vaca tion, the church we attend—things like that." "Well," the friend asked, "what big decisions are left for you?" "Me? I decide about our government's policy in Southeast Asia, or whether or not we should get out of the U.N." Then, some homes have anar chy; there is no observable gov ernment at all. Every member does anything that suits him best with no rules and very little control. The home is usually and eventually taken over by the children. Having been undisciplined, the youngsters get out of control. To keep their sanity the parents have to end up letting the youngsters tell them what to do. The most popular form of gov ernment is the democracy. It seems the majority rules. If there's only a husband and wife disagreements may ensue leading to small civil wars. If there are children some times, in a dispute between hus band and wife, the offspring may have the deciding vote. Such a rule is not practical for proper guidance and individual growth. The Bible stresses the ideal form of family government. I would term it a "Scriptural Family-ocracy." In it, the husband is given the respon sibility for the leadership. This truth is found throughout the Bible be ginning at Genesis 1:28. Ephesians 5:23 reminds us, "The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is head of the church." Paul de-
The burden for a successful mar riage rests on the husband. The standard Cod sets down for a man's love is the highest there is. The old Jewish scholars used to say that woman was not taken from man's head that she should rule over him; nor from his feet so that she would be his slave; but from his side, to show that she would be his companion in life, from under his arm so that she should live in his protection, and near his heart so that she should be the special object of his special love. It is an honor to be chosen from all the women on earth to be the wife of a good man. A wife should grow to her greatest potential in the glad sunshine of his love. GOVERNMENT IN THE HOME Have you ever realized that ev ery family has some type of gov ernment? For example, some might be part of a dictatorship. Here, either the father or the mother be haves like a Roman emperor. All other members of the family are regarded as obedient slaves. The attitude of the supposed leader is, "When I roar, let the whole world listen!" If the father is the unrivaled boss, then mother usually acts as his first deputy. Children get or ders from the boss through the deputy. This sort of home is held together by threats and fear. Other homes have a puppet gov ernment. While to outsiders the father may appear to be the lead er, everyone behind the closed doors knows that mother is "the power behind the throne." She makes all the crucial decisions. Dad is too weak to cross her. Have you heard the story about the husband who was bragging to his buddies about how he was the head of his
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