A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail with a subject line that really caught my attention. It was from FamilyLife Ministries and the subject was, "How to
Frustrate Your Wife."
They said there were two easy ways to frustrate your wife:
1. Fail to love her
2. Fail to lead her
Thoughts
on Loving Your Wife
You must love your wife to the extent that she has no
doubt about it.
When shopping for greeting cards, we regularly see cards
that say, “I know I haven't said it as often as I should…." A Christian husband should never be in a
position to buy that card! We should be
confident that we are regularly speaking words of love and affection.
Recently, as I’ve been thinking a lot about missions and
the multi-cultural church, I’ve been reminded of a strong concept about serving
and loving others. You can’t show up in
another country and just plan American-style events and expect a different
culture to feel loved and served. You
have to get to know the culture and serve in a way that speaks to them. It’s the exact same concept overseas and in our
own households.
In case you haven’t noticed, men and women tend to think
differently. That different thinking
also goes into the way we show our love to each other. We have to make sure we are showing our love
in a way that speaks her language, not ours.
Thoughts on
Leading Your Wife
Christian wives hope their husbands will be godly
leaders. It means taking the initiative
in leading the family in engagement with God's Word both in the local church
and at home. It is our responsibility to
shepherd our flock by providing for them, protecting them, caring for them, and
helping them grow.
In his sermon last Sunday, Pastor Dave reminded us that one
qualification of an elder is to be someone who can lead their family. He referred to I Timothy 3:5 which says, “If
a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of
the church of God?”
Ephesians 5:25 challenges us to “love our wives just as
Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for it.” That’s quite a high calling! But I hope all the husbands that read this today can be encouraged and challenged to do just that.
