Basic HTML Version
to you husbands about your
responsibility in marriage!
Man Needs a Help
At the very beginning of your
Bible, God describes the pur–
poses he had in mind-and
responsibilities- in creating man
and woman. rf humanity today
is ever going to find the answer
to happy marriages, we had bet–
ter be willing to accept instruc–
tion from the great God of cre–
ation-the author of marriage
and the one who made us male
and female!
Notice what the great God
had in mind: "And God said,
Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness: and Jet them
have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over
all the earth, and over every
creeping thing tbat creepeth
upon the earth" (Genesis
1:26).
He also said: "Let them have
dominion"-he intended that
both the husband and the wife
learn to exercise authority and
responsibility over all of the cre–
ation under mankind.
Verse 27 continues: "So God
created man in his own image, in
the image of God created he him;
maJe and female created he
them." Here it is made plain.
Both man and woman were
created in the image of God.
They both share through their
minds the blessings, the opportu–
nities, the joys-as well .as the
responsibilities-of acting for
God on this earth and having
dominion over the rest of the
physical creation.
In Genesis 2: 18, God reveals in
detail why he created woman
after
creating the man: "And the
Lord God said,
Jt
is not good that
the man should be alone;
1
will
make him an help meet for
him."
Man is not the great, all-con–
quering hero who stood alone
against the sky. The fact was that
man needed a he/p!
He was not
complete! And woman was
created to fill that emotional,
mental and physical void in his
Ji fe.
12
This is something that all men
should deeply appreciate.
A Wife Balances a Man
For man without woman is often
like a train without an engine, an
airplane without wings or a car
without wheels.
Most men- thereare rareexcep–
tions- simply cannot be complete,
cannot be fully happy and bal–
anced--cannot function as they
ought in the fulfillment of God's
purposes unless each has the help of
a loving, dedicated wife.
This knowledge the world seems
to be losing in its rush toward mate–
rial acquisition, false values and
sexualliberation.
The Bible says: "Likewise, ye
~~
Most men
...
cannot
be complete, cannot be
fui/y happy and
balanced .
..
unless each
has the help of a
loving, dedicated wife.
' '
husbands, dwell with them accord–
ing to knowledge, giving honour
unto tbe wife as unto the weaker
vessel, andas being beirs together of
the grace of life; that your prayers
be not hindered" (1 Peter 3:7).
Most women realize that they are
indeed "the weaker vessel." They
have no quarrel with this. Tbey are
glad to take their place in life at the
side of a strong, balanced and loving
husband and actas bis help and sup–
port. But if a husband takes advan–
tage of 'tbis, crushes bis wife in bis
desire to exalt himself and prove
something to himself or some–
body-it is no wonder that her
!ove, respect and trust quickly
fades. Only bate and misunder–
standing result.
(It
was out of this
kind of tragedy that the women's
liberation movement was born.)
Indeed the prayers of that house–
hold are greatly hindered if there
ever were such prayers.
The wife was created as a help.
She was created as the weaker ves-
sel, by reason of childbearing- yet
to assist and inspire her husband.
But how does a wife help and
assist an egotist who is so intent on
exalting himself, proving to himself
that he is great and powerful and
acting like a little dictator that he
makes life miserable for all others
around him? Or, how does a wife
help and assist a lazy, spineless
drunk who refuses to support his
wife and family, refuses to earn a
proper living and comes in night
after night in a stupor- evil tem–
pered and slapping and beating his
wife and children? Think this prob–
lem through, men.
An lnspired E xample of Marriage
T hroughout the inspired Word of
God, the relationship between
husbands and wives is shown to
be the very type of the relation–
ship between Jesus Christ and the
Church. This is particularly
emphasized in the fifth chapter of
Ephesians. Notice!
"Husbands, )ove your wives,
even as Christ also loved the
church, and gave himself for it"
(verse 25).
"Love your wives"? But what
is "!ove"?
Real !ove is deep atfection,
admiration, respect, a feeling of
closeness and an outgoing con–
cero for the one loved.
Jesus Christ had an outgoing
concern for the Church and so he
gave himself for it.
When a woman decides to mar–
ry a man, she should have such a
strong atfection, admiration and
outgoing concern for tbe man she
is to marry that she is willing to
forsake alJ others, give up the
freedom of singleness, and give
herself to this man to be bis
sweetheart, bis help and inspira–
tion, be his nurse and comforter
when he is downcast or sick, the
mother of bis children-and who
knows how many other things?
But what are the man's respon–
sibilities toward bis wife in the
sight of the God of the Bible?
I'm going to set forth
five
areas
of a decent man's responsi–
bilities toward bis wife. If a man
is so weak that he cannot whole–
heartedly embrace these basic
responsibilities, then he is not
The
PLAIN TAUTH