“Problematic” Wives
Sometimes when presenting the responsibilities of a husband, some men will counter,
“Well, that’s all well and good for those blessed with godly wives. But, you don’t know how difficult my wife is.”
Let’s say for a moment that a husband has a wife that has serious brokenness: emotional, physical, mental, spiritual. Does this seeming deficiency in her somehow negate the husband’s own responsibilities? Should she be neglected because of her brokenness? Should she be abandoned because of her problems and struggles? Or, should her life be made so much more miserable by her husband that she will be forced to leave; or, her life made so much more unhappy and depressed that she insists that he leave?
Do not even extremely broken women still deserve to be loved and cherished? Who better than a godly, righteous man to do so? Is it not an honor and a privilege to express to her the unending, unwavering love, grace, patience (longsuffering), gentleness and kindness of Christ?
Love never fails (I Corinthians 13:8).
Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr.
(Excerpted from his upcoming book, Wife Loving)
Tags: Family, Headship, Home, Patriarchs
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
godsembassy.wordpress.com 
February 7, 2015 at 10:12 pm
I have seldom read so much wisdom on marriage in relation to biblical principles thank you
LikeLike
February 11, 2015 at 7:34 pm
Hello,
What do you mean when you say ‘responsibilities of a husband’?
LikeLike
February 11, 2015 at 10:40 pm
Thanks for your question.
This particular series is on “Wife Loving” so the specific responsibilities which are refereed to in the context is the husband’s responsibilities to sacrificially love his wife. Hope this helps.
LikeLike
February 12, 2015 at 2:55 pm
Pardon my insistence, but can you expound a bit more? What does sacrificially loving look like? And what instances might ‘force her to leave’?
Do you mean leading her even when she is emotionally unstable and defiant to your headship? Is that what you meant by ‘serious brokenness’, a rebellion against her husband’s authority?
LikeLike
February 12, 2015 at 2:57 pm
Perhaps, if I read a bit more of your work, I would have a bigger understanding of your position. I read several of your posts in this series yesterday, but that was all.
LikeLike