Witness to a Watching World

One day at the jail, we neared the end of our time together and I asked for their prayer requests. Several spoke up and then one woman asked that we pray for her roommate. She wanted to pray for her because her roommate had kept her up all night with her crying . . . about a boyfriend. I could sense a bit of disgust in her voice as she gave the reason for all those tears, but it was her next comment that really struck me. She said, “I vowed a long time ago to never cry over a man again.” Every man in her life had done her wrong—abandoned her, used her, beat her . . . My heart just broke. I was realizing that so many of these women had no idea what a godly man looked like; what a healthy marriage looked like. I gently assured her that there were men worth risking love on, that there were indeed godly men who would lead and provide and love and cherish. 

In a world that has been trying to tear down the role of men, of husbands, we are bombarded with images of weak men and browbeating women. Sitcoms, commercials, everywhere you turn, the woman has to help the man survive. She is smart and strong and has it all together, he is an inept oaf! It may have started as a means for feminism and women’s rights to be entrenched in our society. In some ways, it has been a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a culture, we have certainly not been encouraging men to step into the role God would have for them. I went home to my amazing husband more grateful than ever for who he is—how he leads our family and lives his life, the husband he is to me, the father he is to our children . . . I am certainly blessed. While far from perfect, I pray that our marriage can be a witness to a watching world of the beauty and balance that God intended between men and women, united as one in the covenant of marriage, for life.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved

he church and gave himself up for her…”

Ephesians 5:25 NIV

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own

husbands as you do to the Lord.”

Ephesians 5:22 NIV

“Anyone who does not provide for their relatives,

and especially for their own household,

has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

1 Timothy 5:8 NIV