Bringing The Gospel Home

In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.

1 Peter 3:7

ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES a newly married husband can make is to attempt to understand his wife through the lens of his own masculine experience. He can assume the things that bother him also bother her. Or that the things that don’t bother him much shouldn’t bother his wife, either. These (often wrong) assumptions can lead to arguments and lonely nights on the couch.

The apostle Peter calls men to live with and treat their wives with an understanding of their weaker nature. By “weaker,” Peter doesn’t imply inferiority; he is simply referring to the natural difference in physical strength between men and women. God intentionally created women to be different from men. And God calls a husband to work hard to understand what makes his wife tick—to understand her dreams, her desires, her emotions, her fears. When a husband shrugs these off, he is not only an obstacle to marital harmony, he is disobeying the Scriptures.

To many men, this kind of relational work seems optional or even irrelevant. But if a husband takes his relationship with God seriously, he’ll increase his efforts to understand, sympathize with, and cherish his wife. What’s more, a man is encouraged to cherish his wife so that his prayers “will not be hindered.” In other words, a husband’s relationship with his wife directly affects his relationship with God.

BOTTOM LINE

God calls a husband to learn about his wife’s unique emotional, spiritual, and physical makeup. It’s a duty and delight to seek to know your wife better.

Moment of Strength: Ephesians 5:25-32