Husbands and Wives: Helping your spouse succeed
We’ve all heard it plenty of times… Wives submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:22-25). At times this can be a great challenge that we can all expect to struggle with.
There has been plenty written and said about how a wife is to respect and submit to her husband and how a husband is to love his wife. To me this is only half the battle. We also need to consider the other side of this equation. Men, be someone who your wife can easily respect and submit to. Women, be someone that your husband can easily love. We have an opportunity to set our spouse up to succeed.
For men it’s not enough to work hard at your job and support your family. We need to be someone our wives can respect and want to respect. So who do you need to be to make it easy for your wife to respect you? A man with integrity, responsibility, courage, kindness, leadership and faithfulness to name a few. Men should have Godly character that serves their family well. Husbands should examine themselves and honestly answer if they are making it easy for their wife to respect them.
Women need to consider their husband’s perspective as well. Men are told to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Are you easy to love? I think each women knows how to make herself more lovable to her husband and should be doing what is necessary to make it easy for him to love her more.
Each of us, husbands and wives, wants what God admonishes the other to give. He made us that way intentionally. If you want love or respect, make it easy for your spouse to give it to you.
I’d like to know what you think so please leave a comment below…
When couples come to me to prepare for marriage, the question I ask them to keep foremost in their minds is not “Is he/she good enough for me” but “Am I being the best husband/wife I can be for her/him?” It goes against the world’s way of thinking, but it’s the only secure perspective.
Great article, very objective from both perspectives. I whole heatedly agree. There is a great responsibility on both spouses to achieve the marriage God intended. And if we kept our focus on ourselves and not our spouse, we’d find we don’t really have time to focus on them anyway.
Men and woman are wired differently. My biggest marriage mistake was assuming my wife operated like I do, processed info like I do, and communicated like I do. We do well to learn the other’s means of communication as our commitment to loving them.
Tim
Over the many decades that I have observed, I can’t help but to Agree! Though one of the largest Problems I find is that a lot of these issues can be prevent before it begins! Couples seem to be confused as to what is REALLY suppose to take place in the Dating Process! There is way too much attention paid to the Physical side of individuals, rather than the Spiritual! When Both Individuals work night and day to put God’s Word First and Foremost, they tend to have Less issues. Daters Need to Ask the Hard Questions during this process, Be Clear in the short List, 3 or less of the Things That Are Breakers for U! Share with your potential mate, and be Real about where they Stand, when it comes to Fidelity,etc. The signs are usually all about couples, yet they CHOOSE to Ignore, feeling, Love Conquers All! Yes, God’s Agape Love Will, But Not Man’s Worldly version of Love! Bottom line it all Falls Under Clear,Concise Communication! We can’t Change Each Other, Only God can Change a Persons Heart! Don’t Fool Yourself!