1. The greatest principle that has helped my wife and I to enjoy peace, harmony and deep fellowship in our marriage for the past one year is the revelation we found from 1 Peter 2:21-3:7 to the effect that God’s secret code for a successful marriage is for the husband and wife in matrimony to pursue the life of Jesus and ensure never to fall below the standard of that life from day to day.
2. The key word that introduced this righteous obligation of being like Jesus is the word LIKEWISE in 1 Peter 3:1.
3. The following are the “Likewise Obligations” of the husband in matrimony:
i. To know no sin of malice (no matter the offence) or adultery.
ii. To speak only graceful words at all times.
iii. Never to insult back even if insulted by his wife.
iv. Never to issue any form of threat to his wife whenever he suffers in her hands. Threats of withdrawal of any form of support, acts of love or benefit; or actual withdrawal of same is prohibited. He should not avenge himself; he should rather allow God to vindicate him in His own way and time.
v. To love her by giving himself for her which talks about total sacrifice of himself and all he has for her wellbeing and prosperity.
vi. To love her by labouring to sanctify himself so that the wife also may be sanctified through his labour to see to the washing of her life and Character by the word of God until she becomes without spot or wrinkle.
vii. To love her by seeing to the nourishment of her body, soul and spirit continuously.
viii. To love her by cherising her day to day – using his affectionate words to edify her, to adore her and to exalt her.
4. The following are the “Likewise obligations” of the wife in matrimony:
i. To know no sin of malice (no matter the offence) or adultery.
ii. To speak only graceful words at all times.
iii. Never to insult back even if insulted by her husband.
iv. Never to issue any form of threat to her husband whenever she suffers in his hands. Threats of withdrawal of any form of support, acts of love or benefit; or actual withdrawal of same is prohibited. She should not avenge herself; she should rather allow God to vindicate her in His own way and time.
v. To honour and respect her husband the way he wants to be respected and not the way she thinks he should be respected.
vi. To submit, subordinate herself and adapt to her husband in everything as a service unto the Lord.
5. Each party must make a personal decision to keep these “likewise obligations” regardless of whether the other person is keeping his or hers at any given time.
6. The keeping of these obligations by even one of the parties only at any given time is the key to bringing the other party to repentance, and by implication salvaging the marriage from ruin. Otherwise, the hope of recovery is totally foreclosed.
The lessons from our 1st year in marriage continues.
We’ll still share with you in the course of this series practical experiences of how we averted quarrels and crisis in the following areas:
– Food/domestic duties
– Sex
-Finance
-In-law influence
Your brother,
Peniela E. Akintujoye.
©️Peniela Eniayo, Akintujoye| hello@lovestraighttalks.com
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