‘For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.’ Ephesians 5:22-33(NLT)
‘Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. ‘ 1 Peter 4:8(NLT)
‘This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. ‘ John 15:12(NLT)
‘Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.’ Hebrews 10:24-25(NLT)
‘There are three things that amaze me— no, four things that I don’t understand: how an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman.’ Proverbs 30:18-19(NLT)
Some years ago, an elderly brother in Christ said to me that I should not allow any man to pick a fight with my wife. He said I should step in and defend her if she is threatened verbally or in any other way. Being a younger man then, I felt a sense of pride well up in my heart when pondering the privilege that the Lord had bestowed on me to be my spouse’s protector.
What I came to realise was that I differed substantially from my wife in how she processes things, and this is a direct result of who God has made me to be.
An example of this would be in how we differ with regard to practicality versus beauty. I would not so care for presentation as I would care for practicality. For example, the positioning of a certain item – in my mind, a glass bowl should be placed in a safe spot where it cannot be bumped off the display cabinet, even if it means that it does not get displayed at all! In my mind, it could come crashing off the display cupboard, break into pieces and then my wife and children could accidentally cut their feet. This illustrates how my wiring as a man is more about the safety and protection of my wife and family.
I believe God has intentionally wired us to be like this because we have a different role to fulfill as husbands in marriage. I must admit that I love it when my wife transforms a simple and silly looking room into something beautiful and lovely—even though I would not agree practically with the positioning of every item!
I believe God has equipped every husband with the fortitude and insight to see the danger from far off and warn his spouse to caution. As we represent Christ in marriage and our wives represent the Church, our protection of our wives should encompass much more than just physical protection. We know this because Christ’s protection encompasses more than the physical well-being of his bride, the Church.
from How to Protect Your Wife