Reflection:  Whilst this section is often found controversial (and I can understand why!), I think this much is clear: God’s household is to live in its own little households based on the family traits of love and submission. This is a very helpful realisation: each of the households of the household of God must be a place where God’s love is represented faithfully. Moreover, in each household, the design is set by God and who we are rather than anything else. In a context of ‘the days are evil’ (5:16), we need this reminder of where our design template comes from. Here is a spur to do what you are doing now: reading God’s word and meditating and praying. In our marriages, in our relationships as families, in our workplaces, our identity in Jesus is to be displayed by our reliance on his design of love and submission (v5:21).

Question: Pick one those three relationships described in the passage and write down three ways in which mutual love and submission could be displayed by you.

Prayer:Father, thank you that you speak clearly to your household. Please grow in me a delight in the way you love us so that this same love is seen in my household. Amen.