What a man wants (3)

The third thing a man wants is "Authority": ‘Be grateful for his desire to serve and lead" (Emerson Eggerich, "Love & Respect ").

Nowadays, husband's authority is being ignored at home.  Of course there are many reasons for this, but one of them is that the wife ignoring her husband's authority.  As a result, the children are also ignoring their father’s authority.  It is a serious problem indeed.  Although God has given divine authority to the man who is the head of the family, his authority in not being established in home because his wife is not submitting to him (Eph. 5:22).  Although the Bible says that "the wife must respect her husband" (v. 33), she refuses to respect her husband.  As a result, not only the man’s authority is being ignored at home but also the order of the family is broken.  Of course, the man should not abuse the authority given by God.  If he abuses the given authority, then he will become an authoritarian husband.  And it will not be easy for the wife to submit to him and respect such an authoritarian husband.  This is what Dr. Eggerich says: ‘The wife's submission to God takes precedence over her submission to her husband.  She does not sin against Christ in order to follow her husband's opinion’ [Note: The story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11)].  The authoritarian husband is not the Spirit-filled husband.  The Holy Spirit-filled husband does not abuse his authority that God gave him.  The wife must submits to her Spirit-filled husband and respects him as the church submits to Christ (Eph. 5:24).  The wife should obey and respect her husband as the church does so to the Lord.  In other words, the wife must acknowledge and respect her husband's authority.

                How then should the woman acknowledge and respect her husband's authority?  It is to submit her husband and also to respect him (Eph. 5:24, 33).  Here, submitting and respecting her husband involves following the husband’s leadership.  Although Eve refused to follow her husband Adam, (though Adam refused to lead his wife Eve), the women should not follow Eve’s footsteps.  It is the sin that ignores the husband's authority.  The wise wife not only follows her husband’s leadership by trusting him but also appreciates his guidance.  Also, she melts her husband’s heart with her quite gentle soul (1 Pet. 3:1-2).  The wise wife gets what she wants from her husband by giving her husband what he wants (Eggerich).  The woman who builds up her husband's authority by submitting and respecting him is a wise wife.  The woman who respect and praise her husband’s decision is the wise wife.  Although her husband makes a bad decision, she is a wise wife who is still gentle with him, disagreeing with him in private and valuing his authority even before the children.  The woman who is calmly and rationally suggests reasons for disagreeing but never attacks her husband's right to lead is a wise wife.  The woman who wisely builds her husband up while acknowledging her husband's authority is truly a wise wife.