Wifehood

On the Subject of Submission

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
[Colossians 3:18]

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands….let the wife see that she respects her husband.
[Ephesians 5:22-24,33]

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be externalâ┚¬Ã¢â‚¬the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wearâ┚¬Ã¢â‚¬ but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
[1 Peter 3:1-6]

Wifely submission is a complicated topic. I once posted an open query to a group of my friends, asking what, practically, submission “looks like.” I wanted a mental picture. I wasn’t married yet–I’m not sure Seth and I were even dating–but I figured there had to be some underlying attitude that characterized submissive wives: something I could emulate in my future marriage. I received no substantive response. We know we’re supposed to “submit,” but articulating exactly what that means on a day-to-day basis can be much more difficult!

I want, over the next few weeks (or perhaps a month and a half or so!) to do similarly to what I did with the cultivating heavenwardness “series”, by writing another set of posts focusing on submission. I’m a bit more organized going into this one, because I’ve been working on it for a while, and also because I want to focus on the important things moreso than just the things that I “like”. I’m not writing to cultivate a desire for something I already know is good (e.g. heaven) so much as writing to sear my own heart and conscience to better serve my husband and glorify God.

I’ll try to write the first entry tomorrow. 🙂

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