Thursday, September 20, 2018

Marriage - The Husband Part 2 - Honor Your Wife

1 Peter 3:7 (ESV) - "Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered."

Husbands are commanded to honor their wives but too often the husbands feel like their wives are honored simply for having him as a husband... uh, no!

Let's first seek to understand what the Apostle Peter was saying, by understanding what the word "honor" means and how it is used in this context.

To honor your wife is to consider the value your wife possesses. In other words, her worth. We can make the mistake of thinking that the value our wives possess is the worth we give her, from our perspective. This can be skewed, biased and inaccurate, because more than likely we are considering all of her shortcomings and base her value on her performance, according to what we expect, rather than something that goes beyond our perspective.

The value our wives possess has nothing to do with performance, but rather the value she has in the eyes of the Lord. This is a value that does not diminish nor is it dependent on performance because it is the value that a child has in the eyes of a father. Psalm 8:4 - "what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"

Secondly, honor refers to a value that is given to ONLY one person. This worth and value is given and known only in your wife and not shared with anyone else. To regard her as anything less or to share or even shift her value to someone else is to be unfaithful to her as a husband.

Too often husbands make the mistake of sharing this value with someone else, when their wives are the only ones that should possess this value in their eyes.

So, to honor our wives is to see the value in them that they have before the Lord, which is unchanging. We are to handle our wives like a person who is precious to God and precious to us - of GREAT VALUE. We are to make sure our wives have the proper place in our lives that belong only to them and never share that or transfer it at any time and for any reason to someone else... they have exclusive rights as our wives.

Remember, Proverbs 31:10-11 - "An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain."