Now there’s a book title that women would buy! And it’s actually a
plan a lot of women try—without much success. Here’s the deal: Changed women help God change husbands. 1 Peter 3:1-6 includes four traits of a godly, changed woman and how they are powerful instruments for change in her husband’s life. The
real adventure isn’t what God wants to do in your husband’s life; the
jolts will come when you realize what He’s doing in your life!
The changed woman is submissive to her husband. “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husband.” 1 Peter 3:1 The Greek word for submissive, hupotassõ, means to be subject or subordinate, to literally place under.
The best illustration of submission comes from traffic. When you see
the “merge” sign, you know that someone has to go first and someone has
to go behind. Too often the I’m-going-to-go first battle causes
frustration. Everyone knows that soon or later there is only going to be
room for a single file of cars.
Submission has nothing to do with equality. The Son is not
pouting around heaven going, “Why can’t I be the Father?” The Son is in
submission to the Father and the Spirit to the Father and the Son. Yet
Scripture teaches they are equal. Headship has nothing to do with
equality. Men and women are equal under God in every way.
Submission also has nothing to do with worth. I love Proverbs 31:10,
“Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.”
It’s not about gifts. In certain areas, my wife has gifts that far
exceed mine. It’s about God’s design for the order in the home. Changed
women help God change husbands by being submissive to their own husband.
The changed woman is chaste in her conduct. Your
husband is going to be “impacted when he observes your chaste conduct
accompanied by fear” v. 2. This describes the effect of what you do in
the kitchen, the car, the backyard, and in the bedroom—every activity in
every place. Chaste means holy, righteous, or pure. Chaste means having
godly responses to conflict, being pure in your dress, your language,
your choices of entertainment and being righteous in decisions. Chaste
does not mean self-righteous or judgmental; not uppity or prudish—just
pure. A wife’s purity is a powerful tool God uses for change in the life
of her husband.
The changed woman has a gentle and quiet spirit (see 1 Peter 3:4). Her attitude is gentle—that
is, she’s considerate, unassuming, not pushy or demanding, not
unnecessarily rigorous. The opposite of gentle spirit would be
combative. She’s quiet—not loud-mouthed or known for speaking
her mind. She’s not overpowering or blunt in her words or actions. She
is soft-spoken and calm. She bears the disturbances created by others
and does not cause or contribute to disturbances. She trusts God with
her home and entrusts her husband to God. We all know from experience
and from observation, that there is a woman who stirs the pot and there
is a woman who stills the storm. A wife’s gentle and quiet spirit
focuses God’s work on her husband.
A wife might insist, “Well, God didn’t make me like that.” Then like
her husband, she needs to be changed. God is not trying to give her a
different personality. He loves the one that He gave her, but He wants
godliness to be expressed through it. As for her husband, no matter how
clearly she sees how she can “fix” him, God has a better plan. A godly
woman uses each impulse to “improve” her husband as a reminder to pray,
“Lord, change me into the person You want me to be.”
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