The Family: Husbands and Wives

Scripture Reading:  Ephesians 5:22-33
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Two words that will transform you marriage:  Love and Respect

In the book "Love & Respect"  the author writes, "A husband is to obey the command to love his wife even if his wife does not obey the command to respect.  An a wife is to obey the command to respect her husband even if her husband does not obey the command to love.  There is no justification for a husband to say, 'I will love my wife AFTER she respects me'.  Nor is there any justification for a wife to say, 'I will respect my husband after he loves me.'"