Today George preached a great lesson on the Responsibilities of Husbands and Wives. Unfortunately, the time restraints did not allow him to cover nearly as much as needs to be said on the topic, but for an introductory lesson there was plenty of meat for people to chew on.
One of the introductory points came from Romans 9:20:
You may be wondering: What does this verse have to do with husbands and wives? The point is this: God is the Potter, we are the clay. God is the Creator and He knew what He was doing. He designed the marriage relationship as He knew what would be best for us, whether we understand it or not.
As I ponder the lesson we heard today, I would like to kindly suggest that many women, including women in the church, have a problem with God’s plan. I will admit that being in subjection is not always easy. It is sometimes quite difficult. But that still does not give me the right to question the Creator, as if insinuating He didn’t quite get it right, and it does not give me the right to preempt God’s plan.
I heard a woman “joke” about submission with a Christian brother, saying “We teach it, but we don’t practice it.” Oh really? I’ve also heard Christian women express outright their dislike for passages such as Ephesians 5:23,24 which teach that the husband is the head of the family and that the woman should submit herself to her husband. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he – in this case “as a woman thinketh in her heart so is she”. Maybe you know better enough than to try to assume the leadership role outright, but what about being sneaky, or manipulating your husband with crying or emotional games in order to get your way? Such behavior is not pleasing to God. If you dislike God’s plan for you, if you resent the fact that you ought to be in submission to your husband, then I can almost guarantee that you are not the submissive wife that God wants you to be and that you have some trouble spots in your marriage.
Yes, I realize that men sometimes have their own struggles in the realm of being proper leaders of their families. However, that does not negate OUR responsibility to be a submissive helpmeet. The ONLY time we have the authority to disregard the will of our husband is if he wants us to do something that is contrary to the will of God. And even then, one’s attitude still needs to be godly. In other words, God didn’t give us the freedom to be in subjection only when we think he has a good idea!
Ladies, the world has painted a picture that is drastically different from God’s design. When we compare ourselves to the world we might be tempted to think that we aren’t doing so badly…but the world is not our standard. I challenge each of us to do some self-examination in view of God’s plan in regards to submission. How are you doing?
I somehow missed this and the last post on no electricity. Thank you for the reminder and challenge. It's easy to think, "Oh I struggle with this, but other women are just naturally more submissive." Nope. It's hard for everyone at times. What a wonderful scripture to link in my mind, that God's plan for marriage is not one to be questioned. I am going to commit this to memory and write it in my Bible on verses that have to do with submission.Thank you for this gentle, but bold reminder. Love you.
Great application of the verse. Spot on!
Thanks for posting! Your constant encouragement is so helpful to me!
Very good post! Teaching this to our congregations isnt the norm today. One gospel preacher told me a few years ago that he preaches this subject and others like it and unfortunately he has to move around a lot. He was joking but it is true. Sadly, another gospel preacher's wife in a women's Bible class that I was attending said in front of the entire class "the man may have been made the head of the home by God, but the woman turns the head". She made a huge impact and set the pace for a lot of women in that class…unfortunately it has not been in a good way. This is a great lesson to learn and keep learning to keep fresh in our hearts and minds. Thanks for sharing!
Joy, you are right on here. It is a challenging thing and we must just keep examining ourselves and comparing our lives to the word. Thank you for the encouragement!
Very nice thoughts. Submission is a difficult thing for many women to accept and I'm betting we all struggle with it from time to time. Thanks for the challenge, I know I could stand to be a little introspective myself.