7 Ways to Grow Your Marriage: Husband EditionНамуна

Day 1: Admit to your wife where you haven’t met the mark and commit to stepping into being the husband God called and created you to be.

If I asked you and your wife if you wanted to have a God-honoring marriage, what would you say? My guess is that you would both say “yes.” Then, if I asked you how you are going to accomplish this, I would probably get a blank stare.

Having a God-honoring marriage seems like a pretty good idea, but what exactly does that mean? If we start all the way back in Genesis 2:8, we see that God had created man and said, “it wasn’t good for man to be alone.” He then created a woman. In God’s design, he had a specific role for a husband to play and a specific role for a wife to play. Both roles were important. Both were significant. Both were equal. Both were essential. Your role as a husband is given in Ephesians 5:23: "because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.” Your application on how to do this is laid out for you in the next verse, in Ephesians 5:22: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

The husband’s role was to lead, but it was a different type of leadership. It did not fit the mold back then, and it does not fit the mold today. Husbands are to lead like Jesus did. His leadership was bold and strong, but gentle and full of grace. His love is sacrificial, not transactional, and he demonstrated that in the way He served the very people who ridiculed Him.

Marriage was designed to function at its best when both are fulfilling their roles because each is indispensable to the other. It’s vital to the health of your marriage that you serve your wife and are unselfish with your love. Evaluate how well you are leading according to God’s standards. 1 Corinthians 13 does a great job of defining love. Acknowledge where you are falling short (there’s grace for that), and then admit to your wife where you haven’t met the mark and commit to stepping into being the husband God called and created you to be.

Today’s One Thing Challenge: Husbands, apologize to your wife for not being the leader God designed you to be in your marriage. Ask her how you can best serve her, and then follow through!