Single, Dating, Engaged, Married: Navigating Life and Love in the Modern Age

by Ben Stuart

Submission to husbands comes under the umbrella of submission to the Lord. Thus, you do not follow a husband into activity that expressly violates the commands of God.

This man has a voice into every area of your life. That is big. Let that weight settle on you. Particularly if you are still in an unmarried season. Let the weight of this cause you to really evaluate whether or not you have the right guy.

One way to do that is to celebrate everything in his leadership that you can possibly celebrate. Look for the positives. Let him know when he has done something well. Do it without any backhanded dig like, “I really wish you would do that more often.” Just let a pure compliment flow out to him.

Men desire respect more than all things and, interestingly, Paul called the wife to respect her husband.

It is a love that commits to the other’s good and swears to never let go. You don’t fall out of this kind of love. Passions can rise and fall. Agape stays. It declares to the beloved, “I’m not going anywhere.” The verb agape is also in present tense in this passage. That suggests continuous action. That means a husband is meant to love his wife at all times and never stop.

A husband’s job is to initiate and sacrifice so that his wife might flourish under God.

How does a man love his wife? He is willing to sacrifice anything for her, even on her worst day when you get nothing back. That is how a man loves his wife. He will initiate to move toward her and sacrifice whatever he needs to sacrifice.

Jesus initiated. He moved toward us. He sacrificed, gave everything to protect and move sin out of the way. That is what sanctify means, that he is going to wash her clean. All the broken things and sad things, he is pushing them out of the way. He is taking the hit for sin for her so that she might be clean and pure. He protects.