Portrait of Godly Wife, Part 2

I am excited to post this. After Part 1 of being a Godly wife, I thought the next thing to write on would be whom exactly a Godly wife is but, alas there is something else we must cover before we move on. You see several years ago a couple of close friends and I did a study on Proverbs 31 and one of them made a poignant observation. The husband of the woman described in Proverbs 31 was seemingly a respectable and Godly man (Prov 31:23), he was well known and a leader. For many of us a man with such qualities is what we desire, but if we are striving to be Godly women it stands that our husbands are also striving to be Godly men. 


The truth is, God calls us to be Godly in spite of our husbands (1 Peter 3:1). Many of us look at that verse as winning over our unsaved husbands, but actually it can refer to any husband who is not fulfilling the Godly role that God has called him to. The part that really gets to me is where it talks about influencing our husbands without words. I heard a sermon about this recently and I was stunned! I have read over that verse several times and the phrase ".... without words"  had never resonated with me. Here is the verse in full 1 Peter 3:1; Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives (NIV).


What is the first thing we do when we 'think' that we would like to change something in our husbands? We talk to them about it. If the behavior persists, we reiterate our initial query and wait. If there is still no change, our poor coping habits rear their ugly heads. For me it is pouting, the silent treatment or going into what I call the 'superwoman' mode ( It's fine if you don't change because I don't need you to anyway, I'm strong enough to handle everything on my own). I do not know what your coping mechanisms are, but anything apart from taking it to God and leaving it with him is a SIN we must repent of. 


 As I have mentioned previously, I struggle with control, so my inability to change my husband to 'my standards' is very difficult for me. Realizing that I do not have the power to change him has been very freeing. I am not saying that I have it all together, that I do not still occasionally go there. My husband will be the first to tell you that I do. However the freedom that I gained in this realization was exhilarating and has helped me to take a step back and re-evaluate my role. Yes, we have the power to influence our husbands but the actual changing process is our buddy, the holy spirit's job.

What that verse is telling us is that, our husbands will not always follow what the word says and we will be tempted to 'nag' (don't you hate that word!) them into conforming to the word. We are to resist this and through our lifestyle as Godly women win them over into a deeper understanding of the word of God. This post is to reassure us that, we can still be Godly wives if we do not YET have Godly husbands and if we do, we can support our husbands and help them in areas where they need further growth because let's face it; no one is perfect and being a Godly spouse is a daily walk!