Seeking The Lord Together
Christopher Brock
October 21, 2024
This past weekend I was blessed to be able to participate in a taping of some new episodes of a video series called “What a Man Says”. One of the topics that was discussed was a difficult one. The question was, what does a man think about the submission of a wife to their husband? Of course, this topic is one that has been a source of heated discussion within the Body of Christ and because is that we knew that it was one that we wanted to talk about.
During the course of the discussion, we talked about many of the things that are already known about this topic. We talked about the role of husband and wife, the husband is to love and give himself for his wife, and the wife is to love and respect the husband. We also talked about how those directives must also be reciprocated. For instance, if I as a husband desire that my wife respect me, how can I treat her with disrespect?
There were several instances in which there was a pause in the discussion as the group of men were thinking about the question and where the conversation should go next, and it was during one of these pauses I believe that the Lord gave me a new inspiration. We had just talked about how a husband should be the spiritual leader of the marriage and the home. I was thinking about how I needed to step up more and to take the lead when it comes to leading the family towards the Lord. But I felt a sense that something was wrong with that thought. A question came into my mind “do I desire to be a better spiritual leader in my home, or do I desire with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength to know Jesus more deeply?” I began to realize that, if my heart is fixed on Christ and I am desperately seeking Him because I love Him, I will never need to be motivated to be a better spiritual leader in my home. It will instead be a natural overflow of my love for Jesus.
I believe that many times in my marriage and in the marriages of other Christians, we can focus on striving to be a better husband or wife, a better listener, more attentive, more understanding, more thoughtful, etc. but in reality, what we must first desire and seek is to be closer to the heart of Christ. If we try to seek all those other things first and work within our own strength, we will never be able to measure up. But, when we seek first the Kingdom of the Lord and His righteousness, when we desperately chase after the heart of Christ, when we love Him more than anything else, all those things will be added and will be the natural result of our heart being transformed to become more like His.
I hope to challenge you today to not to simply evaluate if you are a good husband or a good wife. I hope to challenge you to look deeper and ask the question, “do I truly love and desire Jesus with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength?” Let your relationship with Jesus be the first one that you work on.