Marriage Articles

Are You Humbly Voicing a Need or Formalizing a Complaint?

Why Does a Wife Not Hear That Her Husband Needs Respect?

Why Does a Wife Not Hear That Her Husband Needs Respect?

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”).

How Is C.H.A.I.R.S. The Key to Having More Meaningful Conversations With Your Husband?

How Is C.H.A.I.R.S. The Key to Having More Meaningful Conversations With Your 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?”

Are You Humbly Voicing a Need or Formalizing a Complaint?

Are You Humbly Voicing a Need or Formalizing a Complaint?

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).

What Does Love and Respect Enable a Wife and Husband to Do?

What Does Love and Respect Enable a Wife and Husband to Do?

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.

You Know What You’re Saying, but What Are You Communicating?

You Know What You’re Saying, but What Are You Communicating?

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.

What Does Love and Respect Enable a Wife and Husband to Do?

You Know What You’re Saying, but What Are You Communicating?

Are Men In Your Church Hearing Their Native Tongue Spoken?

Are Men In Your Church Hearing Their Native Tongue Spoken?

Imagine with me a guy who is a lifelong fitness nut. He only eats the best of foods, he can run a 5K at the drop of a hat in less than twenty minutes, and he goes to the gym five days a week. Let’s suppose he is also instrumental in helping his girlfriend and future wife lose weight and get into shape, after a lifetime of struggles for her.

“Help! Forget Respect—What If I Don’t Even Love My Husband?”

“Help! Forget Respect—What If I Don’t Even Love My Husband?”

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.

Love and Respect Can’t Be Treated Like New Year’s Resolutions

Love and Respect Can’t Be Treated Like New Year’s Resolutions

It’s that time of year again—when millions all over the world make New Year’s resolutions. Many will want to lose weight and become healthier in general; many will take up a new hobby or skill; and others will seek to become more organized in different aspects of their lives. But no matter what a person’s goodwilled intention for the New Year is, studies show time after time that roughly 80 percent of people fail in their New Year’s resolutions.

Are You Married to a Judas or a Peter?

Are You Married to a Judas or a Peter?

Having spoken for more than two decades about Love and Respect and counseling couples for even longer than that, I have heard more than a few complaints from husbands and wives about their spouses, especially in emails: “This man will never love me the way you talk about! You would not believe what I have been putting up with all these years!”