Love Always: 5 Days to Strengthen Your MarriageSample

Love and Respect

The love a man is expected to have for his wife, and the respect a woman is expected to have for her husband, are both a lot to demand. Paul says “let” as if it were that easy. For a husband to love his wife as himself means to live with her flaws as he lives with his own, to push her as he pushes himself yet not out of hatred, and to care for her as if her body were his own.

For a wife to respect her husband almost demands more because it requires her to trust him and the decisions he might make. Love and respect are not easy to build, but they are the foundation of marriage, and both parties need both virtues.

Dear Jesus, we need you every hour. Help us deny ourselves in love and respect for each other. We need you because we cannot carry out this soul-changing work without your grace and strength.