On Your Hands and Knees.

Ephesians 5:21 (NIV)

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

A man was telling his friend that he and his wife had had a serious argument the night before.

"But it ended," he said, "when she came crawling to me on her hands and knees."

"What did she say?" Asked the friend.

The husband replied, "She said, 'Come out from under that bed, you coward!' "

We husbands like the idea of our wives coming to us on their hands and knees. We are quick to memorize Ephesians 5:22, "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord."

And the New Testament does teach the headship of the husband. But it is not a leadership patterned after Genghis Khan (though you might think so to hear some men talk). Rather, it is a leadership patterned after Jesus Christ, and it seems to me he spent some time on his hands and knees (John 13).

In fact, the verse prior to the one quoted above gives an important principle to us all -- the principle of mutual submission: "....submitting to one another in the fear of God." (Ephesians 5:21).

Husbands I encourage you to spend some time on your hands and knees today (in humble service). Strangely enough, you may find that people look up to you as a result!

Dear Lord, help us be the husbands You have planned for each of us. Help us love our wife in a way that they will look to us for leadership. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.