I persued the stores yesterday I was captivated by all the lovely Valentines day items being sold, some romantic---some humorous---some just in bad taste. Nevertheless, I know that this special day is right around the corner I want to make sure I spend some time evaluating what is more important---and that is how I am loving my husband.
See, loving our husbands is not how we need to be loved as women. We like to be listened to and wined and dined---we like romantic, and a handful of beautiful roses (well, I do, anyways!) I am a romantic at heart--even though I don't always show it on the outside--and one day I'd like to fulfill my dream to visit Italy and take a ride on a gondolas in Venice. And not just any ride, mind you, but the ride where the gondolier serenades the couple riding and plays beautiful music. The ride where they serve you strawberries, chocolate and drinks and when it turns to dusk they have candles to light your way through the city---------now THAT is romantic! Top it off with my husband next to me, singing and probably proposing to me again, well, that would be the epitome for me for a Valentine's day. But this post is not about me, it is about our husbands so let's get back to the subject...
Our husband's are loved through the way we RESPECT them. Like Mark Driscoll likes to put it---when a woman gets a card she wants it to say 'I love you' but when a man gets the same card--he is not affected the same way a woman is. Now if the same card stated "I respect you." Now that would be the same as the 'I love you' card written for the woman. Scriptures tells us to respect our husbands because this is their love language---He made them to desire to be respected at the very core of their masculine nature. God also desires for us to have marriages that are overflowing in sacrificial love towards one another. The kind of love that banishes the 'me-first' mentality and puts themselves willingly last.
But I do respect him, you protest, as you unwittingly forget about last week when you lashed out at him, when you forgot what he asked you to do, when you answered sarcastically in front of the children, when you mocked him in front of family/friends, or when you ridiculed his great new idea...
We might think we are righteous when we withhold our respect because of various reasons but the Bible does not state to give respect only if it is due. Let me speak frankly ladies, that when we disrespect our husbands we only point out our immaturity.......not his.
I challenge you this Valentine's day to begin giving the gift of respect that will leave behind an eternal example for your sons, daughters and grandchildren and the lost world. Our respectful influence over our husbands is powerful. Let us use it wisely in building strong marriages here on earth so they will exalt our King in Heaven and as a result, draw the lost closer to Him. And may it exalt Jesus from the rooftops for the great and mighty work He has begun in our lives
