A Husband’s Responsibilities

Oneness with your spouse can only be achieved if both people know and fulfill their biblical role within the marriage. This week we will be focusing on the husband’s role from God’s perspective. God ordains that the husband should be the head of his household. Imagine if you went to work tomorrow and there was no boss, no CEO, no president. It wouldn’t take long before confusion took over and then everyone was fighting for the title of the person in charge. You see, someone has to take the lead, someone has to be in charge, whether that’s in a work role or at home in your marriage. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Ephesians 5:22-24. Many times when we think of someone being in charge, we think about a work environment with a boss and employees. That is not what God wants a marriage to look like. He wants the husband not only to be in charge but to meet the needs of his family, even if that means sacrificing himself-his wants, desires, and even his time and money. If the needs of his family are not more important than his own needs, he is not fit to lead.

Biblical leadership is very different than worldly leadership. The kind of leader that the bible is referring to is one that leads with a servant’s heart. Jesus is the king of kings and yet we saw Him washing the disciple’s feet. Secondly, Jesus also showed us that to lead well means to teach and instruct those whom you lead. Jesus was always teaching His disciples something. We see in 1 Corinthians 14: 34-35 that Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. Wives are to seek knowledge from their spouses, but a husband can only teach what he knows. If he is not in the word and learning himself from God’s word, leading and instructing his family will be nearly impossible. Lastly, Jesus wants husbands to lead with love and compassion. A husband leading his house like a dictator will only lead to unrest and revolt. Leading in God’s love, however, will create a beautiful relationship. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. Ephesians 5:25-28. So husbands love and lead the way Christ modeled for us while He was here on Earth. Look to Him as your perfect role model, sow a good seed and your harvest will be bountiful.