Husbands & Wives

Eph. 5:22 Wives, be subject (be submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands as [a service] to the Lord.

5:23 For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Savior of [His] body.

5:2424 As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.

1 Peter 3:1 In like manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives,

2 When they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence [for your husband; you are to feel for him all that reverence includes: to respect, defer to, revere him--to honor, esteem, appreciate, prize, and, in the human sense, to adore him, that is, to admire, praise, be devoted to, deeply love, and enjoy your husband].

I am not the wife I should be and the verses above attest to that fact. I don't want to subject myself to my husband. I don't want to be submissive nor do I want to adapt myself to him. I am so full of my 'self' that I have wrongly, sinfully, dismissed these verses and attempted to do things 'my' way regardless of what my husband says. Oh, I'm not blatantly in his face about it; we females have our ways, don't we? We can connive and plot and plan, with good intentions of course, but we're still trying to have our way about things. We'll do whatever it takes to get around our other half and get what we want. I have done this. May God forgive me for that.

In looking at these scriptures this morning the thought came to me that as a child of God, He has put within me all I need to DO what His Word tells me to do. I have no acceptable reason or excuse not to. None of my rationalizing will hold water in light of what His Word tells me to do. I am accountable to Him and will give answer one day for what I've done and why I did it. I'm forgiven of course and will not lose my salvation. But God has given me His precious Word and I'm responsible to be a doer of that Word and not a hearer only. For when I only hear it and don't put it in to practice, I'm deceiving myself. James 1:22 is clear about this.

I've asked God to help me and He has clearly let me know that all I need is within me ... His precious Holy Spirit lives within me. His Word is my guidebook for all of life. I am responsible to read it and obey it to the very best of my ability. I am to rely on Him and then DO what I don't want to do. When I walk in obedience to His Word my flesh will most likely rebel and there will be a struggle going on. But it's entirely up to me as to who's going to win.

He hasn't called me or any of us to easy things in this life. You can count on that if you know Him as Savior and Lord. He has called us to be children who honor their Father by their obedience to Him and His Word. And I will honor Him when I honor my husband. As I submit to my Fred, I am also submitting to the One who loves me most. As I revere my Fred, I am showing reverence for the One who put us together over 40 years ago. And think of this: As I admire, praise, deeply love and enjoy my husband, I am accepting one of the gifts God has given me. He's given me this man to be my head, my covering. Why have I persisted in trying to do it my way all these years?

I thank God for what He's allowing me to learn this morning. I thank Him for grace that I don't deserve and mercy that is new every morning. I thank Him for my Fred. I give up wanting it all to be done my way. I wave the white flag of surrender, admit my sins, run to the Father and let Him heal all that needs healing.

What an awesome God we serve. What blessings He bestows on wayward children. Praise His precious Name ... He is mighty to save and will not leave us to our own devices!