A weekly podcast with Emerson Eggerichs, Ph.D.
Read about Marriage, Parenting and Christian Life
Short video questions and answers with Emerson
Curated content on a variety of topics
Browse all Love & Respect books, studies, and gifts
Couple and Small Group series for your home or church
Love & Respect and many more by Emerson Eggerichs, Ph.D.
A few things you might enjoy or gift to someone else
Learn a little about Love & Respect
Join or host a live Love & Respect event.
Support us and impact others through your generous donation.
Reach out with any questions you have!
Browse through and read hundreds of articles on the topic of marriage
The idea of unconditional respect for the husband has always been the Love and Respect message’s unique feature, based on Ephesians 5:33. Many books stress Paul’s instruction for husbands to love their wives (“each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself . . .”), but few spend equal space if any at all, to the rest of the verse (“. . . and the wife must respect her husband”).
Many wives share disappointment that their husbands rarely talk to them at a deeper level. “Emerson, when we were dating, we used to talk long into the night getting to really know each other. What happened to him?”
In the beginning, after God had created Adam and placed him in the garden to cultivate it, He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).
In the Bible, we find two realities to which we are to respond: God’s commands and God’s promises. God calls us to obey His commands and trust His promises. Most of us have sung the song "Trust and Obey,” which captures these two quintessential truths.
There are certain phrases we have been programmed to understand in a specific way whenever we hear them. For example, if someone says to us, “We need to talk,” we know there is bad news to come and we get in defensive mode.
Wives, what would happen if someone asked your husband how he felt about you and his reply was, “You know…I really respect her.” Imagine if that person prodded him more specifically and asked, “Do you love her?” and his response was, “Well...not really.” How would you feel?
One of the greatest joys for me is to receive testimonies of marriages saved through God’s principles of love and respect. Each testimony is unique and speaks to the power of living marriage as God intended.
I have counseled many couples where the wife complains that the husband comes across as harsh and unloving. From her pink perspective, he is frowning with disapproval or sounding stern, even angry.
In the next several weeks, I’ll share with you the most frequently asked questions we get at Love & Respect Ministries. Last week I responded to the concern…
Articles, Podcasts, Ask Emerson on a concept or theme