Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”

When Robertson McQuilkin resigned as president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary, in South Carolina, it was a surprise to many. He was an instrumental force for God's kingdom and the advancement of missions worldwide. Do you know why he resigned?  It was because his wife contracted Alzheimer’s disease and needed his care at home. 

He had to struggle between his devotion to his ministry vocation and his responsibilities at home with his wife. Didn't the Bible teach seek first the kingdom of God and hate your wife for the sake of ministry? People advised him to put her in a nursing home so he could continue in the school. They needed him.

McQuilkin wrote an article in Leadership magazine and revealed that he doesn't have to care for his wife, he gets to. One blessing is the way she teaches him about God's love. She picks flowers outside - anyone's flowers and fills the house with them. In her confusion she picks the inside flowers too. Someone had given them planted flowers and she picked them and put them in a vase of water.   

Sometimes while shopping in a grocery store, Muriel begins to load other people's carts and takes off with them. As she needed her husband more at home, he wrestled daily with the question of who gets him full time - the school or his wife. He promised 42 years before in sickness and in health till death do us part. She had cared for him for almost 40 years with devotion; now it was his turn.

What made McQuilkin’s decision so surprising was, it is an inspiration that a man 57 years old would think of resigning from the highest post at a significant religious college to spend his time caring for his wife. He said “The school can get another president; my wife cannot get another husband.”

One oncologist said, "Almost all women stand by their men; very few men stand by their women." McQuilkin said, "It is more than keeping promises and being fair, however. As I watch her brave descent into oblivion Muriel is the joy of my life. Daily I discover new manifestations of the kind of person she is, the wife I’ve always loved. I also see fresh manifestation of God's love - the God I long to love more fully."

A marriage relationship is the hardest place to live out your faith if you are married to an unsaved person. Don't marry a non-Christian. You will be disobeying the Lord. But if you come to faith in Jesus and your husband has not, then be the best wife you can be. The four things we mentioned last week was that wives should know that in marriage: it is a matter of submission in the partnership; it is a matter of purity in actions and dress; it is a matter of gentleness in attitude and words and it is a matter of trust in Jesus under whom one gives complete faith that He will work it out for His best.     

Now we speak to husbands. I do not prefer the way New International Version translates the Greek. I feel there is more to the interpretation than what the text allows. The King James version still seems to me to be the best translation closest to the original words. "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered."    

As God desires harmony in the home, there are important Biblical instructions for husbands which we will address this week.

Prayer:  Lord, may we hold our marriage covenant sacred as we behold these truths.