Ladies Bible Study Monday, June 27th

by | Jun 27, 2011

1 Peter 3:1-7 

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Ok, there is a lot to cover in these seven verses but we will take it piece by piece.  Let’s start at the beginning with us ladies.  First of all let’s define submit:  to submit is to accept or yield to the authority of another person.  That could be clarified as giving in to his leadership especially if you don’t necessarily agree on something, letting him be the authority and making the decision.  That can be something simple or big in your marriage as long as it is not defying God.  It is sort of like being at work and you and your supervisor don’t agree on how to do your job but you submit and do it their way.  Please understand ladies that submission does not mean you are a doormat or that you lose yourself, you can be a strong woman and still submit willingly to your husbands godly leadership.

Now, speaking of “godly leadership” we all know that not all men are godly leaders so then what?  Well according to these verses that is when you need to be sure you are getting dressed spiritually in the mornings so you are the example, not nagging or rebellious or lashing out in anger all the time but praying for God to help us show the love of Christ and a Christ-like attitude in all we do each day and by those actions win him back over to God. That’s why we can’t count on our outward looks to do what only our inward beauty that only comes from Christ can do!  As these verses say, you can put on the best clothes, have the best hair and jewelry but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t shine the inward beauty of the love of Christ.

When it comes to husbands, they are expected to, as it says in Ephesians 5:25 “love their wife as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.”  If a man loves his wife right then it won’t be difficult for her to submit to his decisions and if he treats her with the respect spoken of in the verses above then as it says, “nothing will hinder his prayers.”  God does not take lightly how a man loves his wife and how he treats her with respect because he is representing Christ in the relationship.  In other words, it is a vital chord in a man’s relationship with God.  Marriage is a God ordained institution and we are to take our roles seriously, it is not ok to get married and think that is all you need to do, marriage takes work and it takes two people committed and working at it in this day and age to make it all it can be! 

Don’t settle for a second rate marriage!  Understand this though, you may have to do what is right on your part for a long time before your spouse will come to the place in their walk with Christ where they will be all they are supposed to be, but trust me God will bless you in the process.  Don’t be the reason for unanswered prayers in your marriage, do your part and pray for God’s wisdom, grace and guidance every day to be all you need to be for him and for your marriage.  The rewards will outweigh the struggle in the end.  Trust God for the strength to take each day at a time and trust Him to in the fact that the best truly is yet to come and you will be glad you made it!

Quote:  “If what you believe doesn’t affect how you live then it isn’t very important.”  Dick Nogleberg

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