Sunday I preached about marriage using Paul’s exhortations to the entire household of those who love and follow Christ.
God has a special word for husbands and wives. You can see God’s exhortation for husbands here. He wants husbands to reflect the image of Christ as they live out their faith.
God’s Word also instructs wives how to love their husbands. They too should reflect God’s image.
“Wives, submit to your husband as is fitting in the Lord” (Colossians 3:18). “Let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:33).
Wives yield to the leadership of their husbands out of mutual respect and responsibility. Instead of trying to control–or worse to manipulate–they submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ (Ephesians 5:23). Even though we often think of submission in negative terms, that was not the attitude of Paul. He called on believers to mutually submit to one another: “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). Submission is not so much commanded as it is modeled by all believers because they love and respect the Lord.
Wives love their husbands by respecting their husbands, even when they “don’t deserve” respect. We must remember if we wait for someone to deserve to be loved, served, forgiven, or respected, we will never do any of these things. To refuse to respect is to refuse to obey the Lord. In the same way that husbands must love their wives, wives must respect their husbands.
Notice the mutual responsibility of husbands and wives.
“However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:33).
Marriage always works best when we obey the Lord and mutually submit to Him.
Tomorrow: “Four Ways to Strengthen Your Marriage”