Husbands have the awesome ministry of loving their wives “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. I know that many sisters struggle with the ‘s’ word, but submission is nowhere near as demanding as crucifixion! Husbands in the local church are to assume a loving, tender leadership role. We are both the head of the home functionally as well as leaders in our home in a spiritual role.
After Jesus, who is to be our first love, the next priority of love for each husband is his wife.
Peter the apostle was a married man who must have manifested some of the same qualities in his home that make him such an interesting character to study in the Bible. It was Peter who wrote about husbands dwelling with their wives in an honorable and knowledgeable way. Note why, in one sense anyway, we are exhorted to live this way – that our prayers might be effective.
An unloving, unholy husband will experience a very poor prayer life. There’s nothing to talk to God about until you get your heart where it should be as a husband. Interestingly, the Greek word for “prayer” also can be translated “worship”.
Husbands, are you personally a worshiper of God? Do you enter into worship here at church, or wherever you attend regularly? Do you sometimes think that there is something missing in worship at church? I suggest to you that, as husbands, being ‘in the flesh’ can be the reason why God’s Spirit doesn’t flow freely among us. May I also suggest that if we hold back our praises to God for whatever reason (Is my heart “in a foreign land”? Psalm 137:1-4), that will equally suppress the Spirit of God.
When men love Jesus and their wives, two vital elements of church life will be evident: prayer and worship. So, as the old hymn says, “Rise up, O man of God!”
