Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Ephesians 5:22-25

In our world, not many verses create as much controversy these days as the words found in the passage above and so, over the last few years, I’ve been introduced to the testimony and writings of a former liberal lesbian professor at Syracuse University, Rosaria Butterfield.

The idea of servant leadership and submission should never result in the kind of bullying that appears to be the norm in some circles. It is contrary to the example Jesus set before us and so is the idea that we also struggle with in submitting to God’s authority.

A podcast I listened to (on a completely different topic) reminded me of the importance of mow my thinking must grow to conform with God’s teaching in every aspect of life and so Paul completes this section of Ephesians with these words –

“Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:33).

Does your wife really know that you are willing to sacrifice you own desires for her good? Does your husband feel his leadership is respected by you?