“Wives, Submit to Your Husbands.” No Way!

The only thing I am going to submit to my husband is a complaint. – Anonymous Wife                    

A husband and wife were having a disagreement and stopped speaking to each other when suddenly, the husband realized that the next day he would need his wife to wake him up at 5:00 a.m. for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me up at 5:00 a.m.," and he left it where he knew she would find it. (Image by pexels)

The next morning the man woke up only to discover it was 9:00 a.m. and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife had not awakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed that said, “It is 5:00 a.m. Wake up!"

When it comes to marriages, we can do our best to try and find some humor in the tension, even though at the time it may not be so funny.

A wife once jokingly said, “the only thing I am going to submit to my husband is a complaint.” What was her comment in response to? A Bible verse that states, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:22) This verse can quickly strike up heated conversations in churches, academia and in politics.

Am I stepping on a cultural landmine? No, rather our society is. When we debate away God’ truth for the home, we are assuring its destruction. What the Scriptures say about husbands, wives and children is the cultural life preserver we need to help save our marriages and families.

Year after year, 40 to 50 percent of first-time marriages end in divorce, and for those who marry a second or third time, the likelihood of divorce climbs higher and higher. Do you know the percentage of children that will end up living in divorced homes? It is 40%, which amounts to millions of our kids. We have this mess because we are not building marriages and families God’s way.

Let me go back to Ephesians and read a little further, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church…” (Eph. 5:22-23) There is more, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” (5:25) And God does not leave out the children, “…obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (6:1) Can you see what God is communicating? Order and responsibility.

The concept came from our Creator. He made each of us with equal worth, but with distinct roles. It reflects the Holy Trinity. God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit are separate but one with different responsibilities. The Spirit submits to the Father and the Son, while the Son submits to the Father.

Likewise, God built the family. He appointed the husband as leader, the wife under his leadership, the children under the parents and all under Jesus. This also reflects divine order, and was God’s perfect plan before evil and lawlessness came into the world causing chaotic disorder. Then husbands began dominating their wives and children, some being passive and others putting their work and hobbies first. Wives started controlling their husbands and putting their children first, and children rose up in defiance to their parents. It has been, and still is, a battle for selfish control.

Jesus is the answer to this chaos. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, yet He humbled Himself, by submitting to the Father’s will to suffer, die and rise again. Why? So that we might be made new. It is not about male dominance or patriarchy. It is about the family coming under the authority of Christ the King with a willing and loving heart, as modeled for us through the cross.

These are hard truths, and will not be easy to follow, but through Christ it is possible. And today it can start with just one member of the family. Will you be the one? 

A prayer for you – Lord God, I pray for the families of America. End the chaos and the divorce epidemic. Bring husbands, wives and children to yield themselves before the one true King, and bring love, peace and forgiveness in their homes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Greatness of a Woman

I invite the people of the United States to display the [United States] flag…as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country. – President Woodrow Wilson

On May 8, 1914, Congress passed a joint resolution to establish the second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day. Then on May 9th, the President signed the proclamation saying, “I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States…invite the people of the United States to display the [United States] flag…as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.” (Image by pexels)

The proclamation said nothing about cards, candy and roses, but did encourage the flying of the American flag. Why? Because of the noticeable and indispensable patriotism of America’s mothers to their country.

During the years 1776 to 1914 America fought in numerous wars. The Revolutionary War (1775-1783), War of 1812 (1812-1815), Mexican-American War (1846-1848), American Civil War (1861-1865) and the Spanish-American War (1898). They combined to loose over 650,000 American soldiers, the majority of those being young men.

When President Wilson, congress and the American people celebrated the first Mother’s Day, they were thinking of the United States’ 138-year history, and the sacrifice of tens of thousands of mothers and wives that had become widows and single moms because their husbands and sons chose to go and fight for America.

This patriotic spirit continued in the hearts of American mothers following 1914. Just three years later they were called upon again during WWI (1917-1918). There, thousands more of young men perished on battlefields leaving a new generation of grieving mothers and young wives.

Since 1776, how could young husbands with children have gone off to defend this nation without courageous wives and mothers staying behind to manage the home and care for their children? Thousands of these women never saw their husbands come home and became widows at an early age.

The role of women in our nation has changed much since 1914. Today, America’s landscape is filled with wives and mothers serving throughout the military, in the church, business and elected office. The value of the service they provide in and outside the home has not changed. I think we can say, there would be no America if it was not for the sacrifice of our mothers.

What makes a great woman? Is it the mom that supports her son risking his life on the battlefield? Is it the hard work of a wife and mother to care for her husband and children? Is it the determination of a single mom who works two jobs to provide for her kids? We should applaud these types of women, but greatness goes much deeper. God tell us that, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30).

What is charm and beauty? It is all outside stuff. The form of a woman will grab the eyes of a man and grant her favor in his presence. However, it deceitfully masks the true condition of her soul. Additionally, it is all temporary as age, sickness and the trials of life will gradually sweep it away.

A woman may focus on all the outside things to measure her worth or success, but the fear of God is something of the heart. It refers to combination of a woman who respects the majesty and power of God, while being committed to keeping His commands. This kind of a woman may be overlooked by some, but she will be welcomed with honor into the presence of Jesus, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is what makes a great woman! A nation filled with women like these will be blessed. The Bible scholar Matthew Henry penned, “The fear of God reigning in the heart, is the beauty of the soul [that] lasts forever.”

A prayer for you – Lord God, thank you for the women that have sacrificed their husbands, sons and themselves for this nation. I pray you will raise up a new generation of young women that will not seek the presence of a man because of her beauty but will desire a holy heart to please her Creator. Raise up women who will not look to others for their worth but will seek to walk in the fear of Lord all the days of their life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Man Who Changed The World

Jesus did not just change the world, He altered history, caused the rise and fall of nations and effected the eternal existence of billions of souls. – Clint Decker

Johaness Gutenberg, a German inventor, built a printing press in the mid-1400s that historians say brought about an “information age.” In 1455 he printed Europe’s first-ever book, a Bible. The printing press changed the world. (Image by Istock)

The United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, and provided a unique system of government unknown to any nation on earth. The opening lines of the constitution state, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." The founding of the United States changed the world.

Though these are consequential events in world history, neither has impacted humankind like the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. He did not just change the world, He altered history, has caused the rise and fall of nations and effected the eternal existence of billions of souls.

The incarnation of Jesus occurred in Israel between 6 and 4 B.C. According to Webster’s dictionary, incarnation is a word that describes “the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthy form.” In particular, it refers to the birth of Christ, when the Lord God took on human form and became one of us. This is called the Doctrine of the Incarnation. It is said of Jesus “…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) The incarnation is the moment in history when the God who made the heavens and the earth, made Himself a simple and normal looking man who came to live among us, in order to reveal who He is and deliver the world’s most important message directly to us.

The resurrection of Jesus took place outside of Jerusalem about 33 A.D. Before this miracle, day’s earlier Jesus was arrested and tried by authorities on false charges of blasphemy. The high priest demanded of Him saying, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” (Matthew 26:63) When Jesus told them the truth, they responded with rage, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.” (Matt. 26:64), Subsequently they immediately ordered the sentence of death upon Him. The day of Jesus’ crucifixion, history records as Good Friday, where He died a sacrificial death for the sins of all humanity; past, present and future. Then for three days He lay in a borrowed tomb. But early on Sunday morning, history’s most renowned miracle took place. Jesus had risen Himself from the dead and walked out of His tomb. He is alive and still is today!

Why is Jesus’ incarnation and resurrection the most monumental events in world history? Why is Jesus the most significant person to ever walk the earth? Jesus own words confidently and boldly state why, because “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:6).

Jesus declared He is the way. All mankind is searching for meaning, purpose and direction. Jesus says to the whole world, “Come, follow me.”

Jesus declared He is the truth. Everyone longs to know what is right and wrong and how to live a life free from guilt and shame. Jesus is the standard for truth, balancing the scales of justice and raising up high the banner for holiness in an unholy and evil world.

Jesus declared He is the life. Every man and woman hungers for the intangible things that money, power and success can never buy – life, real life. Jesus proved He is the source and giver of real and lasting life.

A prayer for you – Lord God, help us to see Jesus as more than a good man. More than a moral teacher. Let us see Him as the Son of the living God who died and rose again that we might have new life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.