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Men and women have differing sexual and emotional needs, which I have preached for forty years. But be assured, this does not mean that one does not have sexual needs and the other does not have emotional needs. Differing does not mean nonexistent.
Back before I began sharing across the world the Love and Respect message, based on Ephesians 5:33, we surveyed seven thousand people with the following question: "During a conflict with your spouse, do you feel unloved or disrespected?"
Truth be told, the vast majority of disagreements that arise between husband and wife are what I call disagreements in the gray areas of life. Meaning there is not a clear, black-and-white answer to who is right and who is wrong.
Some claim that because Jesus Christ describes Himself as "the Son of Man" (instead of “the Son of God”) in three of the gospels about Christ's life and ministry (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), this proves he was not the Son of God, and thus not God.
Because a husband primarily sees through the lens of respect, he knows that he seeks to be respectful and honorable as a man. And, he knows that she falls short of being respectful, at least as respectful as he is as a man.
For those who follow Christ, believing in “God’s image” of us means we stand on this truth: God sees us as those He loves, accepts, and values. In fact, this is why He sent Christ to die for us—to demonstrate His unconditional love, to enable absolute acceptance forever, and to reveal thereby our intrinsic worth to Him.
Guys, now it’s your turn! Every wife I have met (given she is in love with her husband) would agree that she feels most energized in her marriage when her husband seeks to be close with her, open with her, understanding of her, peacemaking with her, loyal to her, and esteeming of her.
Have you ever met a wife who complains that her husband talks too much? That he seems to always want to share what’s on his heart and talk face-to-face with her in the evening, even when the game is on?
An adult child wrote me, saying about his parents, “Most remarkable has been the transformation in my parents' marriage. During your [Love and Respect] conference, a light bulb went off for both of them, and by the end of the conference, they were both crying together and asking each other’s forgiveness for years of misunderstanding.
Have you ever met someone so optimistic that you considered them more naive than realistic? Because they believe everything to be hunky dory, they blind themselves to the red flags leading to bad decisions and painful consequences.
Which is heavier, a pound of feathers or a pound of lead? Did you have to think about that one for a second? Don’t worry, you wouldn’t be alone if you did.
Have you ever asked yourself either of these questions? Have you ever wondered what God’s will was for you when it comes to marriage in general or marriage to a specific person—whether it’s getting married or staying married?
In Ephesians 5:33, husbands are commanded to love their wives, and wives are commanded to respect their husbands. One obvious question that I often receive concerning this is, “Why aren’t wives commanded to love their husbands?” The answer I always share is that God is not in the business of commanding us to do things that we naturally do on our own. Put simply, women love to love. And in a marriage between a goodwilled wife and a goodwilled husband, she doesn’t need a biblical command to love her husband unconditionally—she does it already!
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