Wives Love Your Husbands Well

So, on April 10, 2013 I posted to husbands that they should love their wives well. (You can read that post here.) Now, I feel like I should write to my fellow wives.

 

Hi Fellow Wives.

 

We are not off the hook in the “love them well” challenge. I guess, for wives, it should be “respect them well.” But nonetheless, we are examples to our husbands just like they are to us. This isn’t a thought I’ve heard anywhere, and I don’t know if it’s 100% on the mark, but I think it might be at the very least, worth considering.

 

What if our husbands form an idea about the church, based on us and our behavior? What if our selfishness or selflessness causes our husband to develop his ideas of the church?

 

Don’t stop reading yet, let this thought sink in, please.

 

Would your husband think the church is selfless, willing to work long hours to serve people, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, reaching the lost? Up before dawn, not resting until well past dark? Using resources wisely? Spending both time and money on those that are in need?

 

Or…

 

Would your husband think of the church as self-serving and indulgent? Spending time and resources to make itself comfortable, to be fashionable, to be comfortable? Sleeping in late, going to bed early, and forgetting the needs of even the closest members?

 

I am evaluating my own heart, attitude and actions right now. I want to make sure that I am serving more than I am consuming. I know that many things in this life are connected to many other things. Like Christ is to the church as a husband is to a wife. If that means that a wife is to a husband like the church is to Christ, I want to do my part as a wife and as part of the church to serve both my husband and Christ.

 

This is not so easy all of the time though – I get the “I wants” and the “gimmees” and there are times when I want what I want. I get tired, too. I’m human. In a perfect world, none of this would occur, but this isn’t a perfect world.

 

I think that in a healthy marriage though, we can serve diligently, and our spouse can also recognize and lend a hand when we become overwhelmed. So wives, I challenge you to respect your husbands well, serve them, be a light to them, and be health to their bones.

 

A few verses, all NIV84:

 

Prov. 12:4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.

Prov. 14:1 The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

 

Prov. 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

 

Prov. 21:9 Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.