Someone Who Sees

READ

Think about how many different hats you wear in a single week. At work, you might be the boss or the one answering to one. At home, you might be a parent, a spouse, or somebody's kid. Each role comes with its own expectations, and it's easy to let those roles define how we act. Paul speaks into some of those roles in this passage, but pay attention to the bigger idea he keeps pointing to underneath them.

Read Ephesians 6:1–9 and notice who he says everyone ultimately answers to.

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

REFLECT

Paul begins with the family. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." He quotes the old command to honor father and mother, one that comes with a promise of a good life. Then he turns to parents, and specifically fathers, with a line that would have raised eyebrows in his day: "Do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." In a world where fathers had nearly absolute power, Paul tells them to use it with restraint, with care, and with an eye toward their kids' hearts, not just their obedience.

Then he moves to the workplace of his day, which means he speaks to enslaved people and to masters. It's important to be honest here. Slavery was deeply woven into the first-century world, and Paul is writing to real people living inside it. He isn't holding it up as God's ideal. Elsewhere, he condemns slave trading, and his letter to Philemon pushes a slaveholder to receive his runaway slave "no longer as a slave, but... as a dear brother." So what do we make of this passage? Look at what Paul does with it. He addresses enslaved people as full moral beings whose work and dignity matter to God, which was not a given in that culture. And then he tells masters to stop threatening, because "he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him."

That last line quietly knocks the whole ladder over. If there's a Master over everyone, then the person at the top of the social ladder and the person at the bottom stand on level ground before God. Titles and positions don't change who they really belong to.

That's the thread running through all of it, kids and parents, workers and bosses: your role is real, but it isn't your identity. Underneath every role, you belong to Christ, and so does everyone else you deal with. That changes how you use whatever authority you have. If you manage people, run a classroom, parent a kid, or just have more power than someone else in a given moment, you're not the final authority. You're answerable too. And that should make you more patient, more fair, and a lot less likely to use your position to push people around.

It changes things for the person on the other side of authority too. Whether you're a student, a new hire, or someone doing work no one notices, Paul says to do it "as if you were serving the Lord, not people." That doesn't mean letting yourself be mistreated. It means your work and your character don't depend on whether anyone's watching or thanking you. You answer to Someone who sees.

So wherever you find yourself this week, up or down the ladder, ask: how does knowing I belong to Christ, and so does the person in front of me, change how I treat them?

RESPOND

Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.

• In what areas of life do you hold some kind of authority, as a parent, a boss, a leader, an older sibling? How do you tend to use it?

• Where do you find yourself under someone else's authority, and how might it change your attitude to remember you ultimately answer to God?

• Is there someone you've been treating as "less than" because of their role or position? What would it look like to treat them as someone who belongs to Christ too?

REST

Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:

Father, thank You that we all belong to You, no matter our title or position. Forgive us for the times we've used whatever authority we have for our own comfort instead of other people's good. Teach us to lead with patience and fairness, and to work with integrity even when no one's watching. Remind us that You see every person equally and value them fully. Let that truth reshape how we treat everyone around us this week. Amen.