Ephesians 5:33-Neverthless let each one of you in particular love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. That is an interesting scripture about marriage that is actually what spouses really need from each other. I’m not saying husbands don’t want love and wives don’t want respect, but it seems that the priority of two complement each other. Because of my spiritual beliefs, I believe if God didn’t want it in his Word, it wouldn’t be in it so therefore I think God gave this word to the Apostle Paul to help us married folk out. Here’s why:
Men being the aggressive beings that they are, value respect very highly. They want respect in the workplace, from their peers, friends, kids and especially their wives. According to a couple of men that I talked to about this topic, these are examples of how you can show your husband respect. Acknowledge your husband. He does not want you to put other men before him. Your husband does not want to hear you talk about other men to them. He wants you to show him that he’s the head of the family. He wants to feel valuable. He does not appreciate being talked to or treated like a child.
Women being the emotional creatures that we are, require love from their husbands. I value my husband’s love over all else. I feel that since he loves me, he is going to respect me anyway. I believe that if he loves me, he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, physically or emotionally. According to other women I asked regarding this article, we agree that our husbands can show us love by telling us. Also gifts for no reason and unexpected things like cooking for us shows that you love us. We like to be listened to, and to receive small things such as letters and text messages.
So after reading all of the above, does this mean that men desire respect more than love and women love more than respect? If wives respect their husbands, will they in turn show love to their wives? If we give each other what the other wants, will the marriage be easier?
These questions will be addressed in part 2 of the article, but in the meantime, BMWK family, how do you love your wives/respect your husbands?