Honor the Lord through our relationships: Part Two - Husbands (Again)

Today is Part Two of a Five-part series on relationships. You may be somewhat surprised to find that today's relationship of focus is husbands, again! I hope you will read it as a continuation from yesterday's topic.

Our husbands, no matter the circumstance, are the men we stood next to and took a vow to honor, love and respect. We also took a vow to love them and stand beside them through the good and the bad, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Do we really know what that means? Did we really mean it when we said the parts about; bad, poorer and sickness? Did we really think that love alone would sustain us for the rough times too?

How daunting it is when reality hits that unsuspecting bride with love-glazed eyes who has made up her mind that she can overcome any problem just because she found a man to love. God never promised a life of no problems and never promised happiness. If you find that in the Bible, please let me know because my Bible doesn't have any reference to that kind of promise. Christ actually promises that we, as christians, will be persecuted and that it won't be easy to follow Him. And for those of you who have been christians for some time, you know how true that promise is. We have all had times where standing up for what Christ would have us stand up for was definitely NOT easy. Just the mention of this may have brought past and, maybe even, current circumstances to your mind.

Today I want to talk about those circumstances in our marriages that are also a tough time for us to stand up for what Christ would have us stand up for. Now, I want to be very clear about something, I am in no way wanting to bash husbands. That is not biblical and in no way helps any marriage. We are to respect our husbands and part of respecting our husbands is by NOT speaking negative of them. This includes to other people.

I am not immune to this in my own life, I admit that I am a guilty party to this at times. I love my husband dearly, but, find myself saying horrible things to him. As soon as I say them I know I am in the wrong and must be forgiven. This is where I am sure many of us can relate. However, the response to this wrong-doing and the conduct we have after this type of circumstance needs to be one that honors the Lord.

Let's ask ourselves, what would honor the Lord after something like this? Well, first and foremost, we need to hit our knees and humble our hearts before the Lord. Going back to our question from yesterday, "what would honor the Lord?" We then need to ask the Lord for His forgiveness and then ask our husbands for their forgiveness. If your relationship with your husband is a hostile type of relationship, you may be thinking something like, "yeah right, I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of telling him I was wrong!" Well, no matter what he might or might not think or say, it is our first responsibility to honor the Lord. Does it honor the Lord to hold unforgiveness? Well, the obvious answer is, no!

Yes, the preferrable action would be that a moment of weakness and speaking negative and harsh words to our husbands does not occur. That would be the Lord's desire for us. Not only would this eliminate the need for thoughts like mentioned above, but it would eliminate the hurt it causes our husbands when they hear these types of things.

Does it honor the Lord to hurt our husbands with our words? Did our husbands marry us to hear harsh and negative words come from us? No! If we were harsh and unkind before marriage, they would most likely never have married us. Why be harsh and unkind now? It isn't flattering to us and definitely doesn't make for a positive atmosphere for ourselves or our husbands.

Verses for today:

Matthew 6:15
But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
2 Corinthians 2:7
Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

2 Samuel 19:6
You love those who hate you and hate those who love you.
Psalm 36:5
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Psalm 52:4
You love every harmful word, O you deceitful tongue!
John 13:34
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
John 13:35
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:26-27
In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Galatians 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Thought for today:

Did our husbands marry us to hear harsh and negative words come from us?

Application for today:(New)
Is there something you need to ask your husband to forgive? If so, don't waste any time and do it as quickly as you can!

Song for today:

This is a song my husband chose as one of the songs that was sung at our wedding.
My brother and his wife did an absolutely amazing job of singing this song and made me realize how beautiful this song really is.
"Your Love Is Extravagant"
By Casting Crowns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoaH0I9UwLI&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=your+love+is+extravagant&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video