HUSBANDS, LOVE YOUR WIFE!
There are numerous jokes about marriage: (If you read these you must read the whole article!)
v Marriage is not a word. It's a sentence....(a life sentence!).
v Marriage is a 3-ring circus - engagement ring, wedding ring and Suffering.
v A happy marriage is a matter of give and take; the husband gives and the wife takes.
v A woman was telling her friend , "It was I who made my husband a millionaire." "And what was he before you married him?" asked the friend. The woman replied, " A multi-millionaire".
v There was this woman who had an artist paint a portrait of her covered with the most amazingly beautiful and expensive jewels.
Her explanation - "If I die and my husband re-marries, I want his
next wife to go crazy looking for the jewels."
Marriage, however, is no joking matter! (I trust you did not laugh at the jokes!)
In marriage you become a “husband.” The word translated “husband” in the Hebrew and Greek is usually just the word for “a man,” with the context indicating that he is a man who has taken a wife. When a man takes a wife, he is no longer just a man; he becomes a husband.
“Husband” comes from the old English “hus-bonds.” “Hus” = house + band = “bonds,” the master of a house, a house holder.
God was and is a Husband to His Bride
- Jeremiah 31:32, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
- Isaiah 54:5, For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.
- Revelation 21:2, Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
- Ephesians 5:23, For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
A husband must always remember that he is a living picture of the Lord Jesus Christ! The Lord is a husband and all husbands are representatives of Him.
ü A Husband is a Provider – God provided for His bride in the wilderness. Deut. 8:3-4, So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.
Exodus 21:10-11, If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights (sexual, bearing children). And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money.
ü A Husband is a Protector – Isa. 54:14-17
ü A Husband is a Priest – Isa. 54:5-8
ü A Husband is a Progenitor – to generate children, a forefather. Isa. 54:1-4, ff.
He is the head of a house but it is a headship that involves great care, sacrifice, compassion, and tenderness.
THE HUSBAND BEATITUDES
(Based on The Husband Handbook – Bob Morehead)
Blessed is He who listens to His wife. “Marriage doesn’t automatically make a man deaf!”
Blessed is He who spends quality time with His wife. Yes, a man must make a living, but a man must also make a marriage!
Blessed is He who trusts (and can trust) His wife, (Proverbs 31:10-31). Proverbs 31:11, “The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.”
Blessed is He who is patient with His wife when she is sick: “In sickness and health.”
Blessed is He who brings encouragement to His wife: complimenting, affirming, commenting, investing
Blessed is He who takes an interest in His Wife’s world. The center of a wife’s world will be her husband and children, but that does not mean that she may not have her interests. Show her you are interested by inquiring, listening, and buying a gift in the area of her interest.
Blessed is He who initiates reconciliation with His wife. The best of marriages have conflicts and sometimes they turn into cross words. Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.
Blessed is He who does not abuse Headship. God’s “chain of command” doesn’t mean that the wife is in chains and that the husband is in command. He is the head of a body not a corporation.
Blessed is He who prays for His wife. One of the best ways to stay close to your wife is to pray for her. When the Bible says to pray for one another, that includes your wife.
Blessed is He who avoids harsh words with His Wife. Ecclesiastes 5:2, Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God….” Colossians 3:19, Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. “Bitter” may be translated “harsh.”
Blessed is He who talks to his wife and keeps His wife informed. If you don’t tell them what’s going on they feel left out, shut out, and put out.
Blessed is He who does not always have to be right. Be careful men. As you can break the spirit of your child, you can beak the spirit of your wife by insisting that she do everything your way or not at all.
Blessed is He who shows affection to His wife. Love-making begins in the morning not in the evening. Lovemaking begins in the kitchen, not in the bedroom. Affection is different from “the marriage act.” Affection is expressed in words, looks, touches, time! Read Song of Solomon 7:1-9. Confine your romantic love to your wife, Prov. 5:15-19.