If Women Only Knew...

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own 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, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 1 Peter 3:1-2

Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 27-29; 1 Peter 3

If women only knew even a little bit of the power they had with the men in their lives...



Years ago I remember having a funny conversation with my stepdad. We were talking about the roles of men and women in society as well as the issue of monogamy. We joked that women’s natural inclination towards monogamy (if for no other reason than that the notion that raising children is often more successful with two dedicated participants) is the reason why we have a civilization at all.

As Dave Chappelle said “If a man could (get) a woman (with) a card board box, he wouldn’t buy a house” (cleaned up for your virgin ears).

It doesn’t seem fair though does it? Why would Peter instruct women to obey their husbands and to bring them to the path of righteousness through the evidence of how they live their lives? Why must the burden be on women to keep the men in line?

Well, I don’t think it’s so much that the burden is on the women as much as Peter is speaking to a higher truth. Most men will do nearly anything to make the woman he loves happy. I’m not sure that today’s generation of women understands this like previous generations seemed to.

Sure, the man may be the head of the household, but if he loves his woman, he lives to serve her. So in truth the man isn’t really running things as much as he is leading the household in the direction that is best served to make his woman happy. At the very least he knows that he doesn’t want her to be unhappy.

A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping
   of a leaky roof in a rainstorm;
restraining her is like restraining the wind
   or grasping oil with the hand. Proverbs 27:15-16

If only women knew that this is how the game works then the world would be so different. I don’t look at what Peter is saying as an argument for the subjugation of women. He is trying to put you up on game.

All a woman has to do is set the tone. If she has a man worth even just a little bit then he will follow suit.