1 Timothy 3 Part 4: Leading By Example

If he is not able to standup in the necessary amount of self-sacrifice and do what is needed to protect his family and children; if he cannot faithfully shepherd his own children and make the hard decisions for their own spiritual well-being; if he does not have the necessary resolve and diligence to first order himself that he might then order his family in love by example, if he cannot lead them there, if he is slothful and lazy, preferring his own comforts and unwilling to preserve his own family from sin, if he sees rebellion and its fatal harm come to the hearts and attitudes of his children and yet can look the other way, if he is strangled and silenced by fear, if he is unwilling to take ultimate responsibility for the overall management of his home and children, how then will he be able to do so for those less dear to him than the souls of his own children?
Jesus endorsed a similar principle in the parable of the talents: he who is faithful over a little will be faithful over much - Mounce
23 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'-Matt 25:23