TODAY’S SCRIPTURE 1 Peter 3:1-7
As the text was announced at the marriage seminar, a man piped up and said, “Have you ever noticed that Peter uses six verses to tell women what to do but only one verse directed to men?” An elderly man on the fourth row, his voice worn with years of wisdom, spoke with a low growl, “Yes, but what man can live up to that one verse?”
Peter advises wives to win their husbands by their respectful and pure conduct. He writes of an inward adorning of the hidden person of the heart rather than merely external beauty. He gives a history lesson of the holy women like Sarah who serve as examples for godly women of all times.
Then, yes, in one verse, Peter instructs husbands to do three things. First, live with your wives in an understanding way. What––understand women? One student said that it would be easier to build a bridge from the mainland to Hawaii than to understand his girlfriend. To understand someone, you have to listen and learn and live respectfully.
Second, Peter instructs husbands to honor the woman as a weaker vessel. He does not say that women are weaker. Peter is married; he knows that his wife, like other wives, is stronger in many ways than he is. His main idea is the honor that does things for her “as if” she were weaker. Simple things like opening doors, carrying heavy boxes, buying soft things, and a myriad of other things tell a wife that she is respected and honored.
Finally, prayer lives are so important that they do not need to be hindered. Marital conflict not only disrupts marital bliss, but it also makes our prayer life very difficult. It’s hard to pray when your heart is broken because of confrontations with your spouse.
Today, I will…think of how I can encourage married people to be kind to their partners. Offer to babysit for some married couple that just needs to get away for a few hours.