"Real Men Lead By Example,(Are We Someone to Imitate?)," Joshua 24: 14-15, Pastor Richard Strode
Scripturally, men are called to be the spiritual leaders of their households following the example outlined in Joshua 24: 15. Sometimes that role falls upon the women in the household but if a Christian man leads his household to accept Christ, the percentage of family who do accept Christ is 93% versus 17% for a woman household leader.
As men, who lead families, we must seek to influence our families by example rather than bossing, bullying or by force. Our example is Jesus' parable of the good shepherd who placed the needs of the sheep entrusted to him to the extent that he would guard the sheep with his life and seek any lost ones. Jesus so valued our need for spiritual redemption that He left heaven's glory and chose to die an atoning death on the Cross for our sins.
We work on leading ourselves in the matter we seek to lead our family. We acknowledge our failings, mistakes, ask forgiveness and offer forgiveness to others just we expect the Lord's forgiveness, grace and mercy for ourselves. Our goal is to prepare our families to continue the legacy of Christian living after our deaths. The example we leave for our families is to emulate that of a God-loving man, though imperfect, always kept the faith and so should we just as we were taught.