Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
--1 Peter 3:7
According to God’s plan for marriage, the husband has two major responsibilities.
First, according to today’s verse, the husband must understand his wife. Now, to understand our wives means to honor them.
What a vivid description of love—to honor. If you are wondering how to show honor, think of it like this. To honor your wife means to see her as a treasure, to hold her dear, and to cherish her as a precious gift.
Husbands, do you love your wife like that? Do you see her as a gift from God?
This verse also refers to understanding your wife’s needs. The late Gary Smalley, a noted Christian counselor and marriage expert, listed these nine specific needs.
A wife:
- Needs to feel that she is first place in her husband’s life.
- Needs to feel that her husband is willing to share an intimate moment of comfort without demanding explanation or giving lectures.
- Needs constant communication.
- Longs to be praised so she can feel valuable.
- Wants to feel free to correct her husband without fear of retaliation or anger.
- Needs to know that her husband will defend and protect her.
- Wants to know that her opinion is so valuable that her husband will discuss decisions with her, evaluate her advice, and then act upon it.
- Needs to share her life with her husband in every area—home, family, and outside interests.
- Wants her husband to be the kind of man her son can follow and her daughter would want to marry.
Secondly, a husband is to undergird his wife with emotional, spiritual and physical support.Why? Because we share the love and grace of God, hand in hand. And we should see each other through the eyes of grace… as God sees us.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.”
Deuteronomy 11:22–24
The largest nuclear accident in history occurred at Chernobyl in 1986. The massive release of radiation and fallout was not the result of a design flaw or an equipment failure. Two electrical engineers in the control room decided to find out how long a turbine would “free wheel” with the power turned off. To accomplish their purpose, they manually overrode six separate systems and alarms. The disaster was not the result of a lack of warning, but rather a failure to heed the multiple warnings that were given.
Before the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses told them that they faced a choice. If they would follow God, He would give them complete and total victory. Any student of history knows that Israel, even at its greatest size by land mass, only possessed a small portion of the land God promised to give to them. God fought battles and gave them victories while they were obedient, but soon they turned aside from following Him and began worshiping idols instead.
The defeats that Israel suffered were foretold ahead of time. Again and again prophets warned of the consequences of disobedience. And again and again they ignored them and were punished. If we ignore what God has commanded us to do and not do, the result will be the same. Someone said, “You can sow wild oats and pray for crop failure, but it won’t work.”
Today’s Growth Principle:
If we do not heed and follow the warnings of the Bible, we will suffer the consequences.
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