In the beginning God saw that it was not good for man to live alone. He therefore made a woman to be a help mate to the man. Everything God made is good and marriage is good. However, a good marriage life depends on the couples themselves. The church “family” is made up of individual families. If there is happiness in the families from individual homes, they bring this happy way of life into the church.
The bible says “he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from God” (Prov. 18:22). For this reason, a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife (Gen.2:24). Though marriage depends on the couple, the bible lays more emphasis on the wife. Every lady is a woman but a wife is more than just a woman. Proverbs 14:1 says every wise woman builds her home but the foolish woman breaks hers with her own hands. Who is then a wise woman? A wise woman is a virtuous woman with good character. A good wife is a capable woman. How are you building up your home? Do you say everything about your husband to people outside your marriage? A good and capable woman does not do that. She knows how to make her husband feel proud. Literally put, she never washes her dirty linen in public. She knows how to protect the integrity of her husband. Sensible, capable, wise and virtuous are some of the characteristics that qualify a good wife. A virtuous woman has the fear of God in her (Prov. 31:10). A virtuous woman is priceless because she costs more than gold. A wife that has no respect for her husband is not God-fearing because God sees man as the head of the family who should be respected.
A good and wise woman knows that she holds the key to her husband’s happiness. A happy husband has a longer lifespan. A foolish woman can cause her husband to develop a high blood pressure with the troubles she brings upon him and this can shorten his lifespan. A woman who knows how to render good service to her husband’s visitors earns their respect. Note that Rebecca was chosen as the wife of Isaac because she fulfilled the criteria Abraham’s servant requested as a sign from God for the bride to choose. The criterion was to choose the good woman who comes to the well and readily gives water to him to drink and also offers to give water to his camels. Despite the bible’s emphasis that a woman builds the house, husbands have a lot to put into marriage to make it a happy home.
Men are to handle their wives with care and love. They must keep no secret agenda from them. The husband is the head of the family and must have one wife and be faithful to her. A husband must also have self-control, be respectable and hospitable as well as being able to manage his family well and see to it that his children obey him (1 Timothy 1:1-4).
May all women build their lives up to become virtuous women so that good men also see the virtue in them and marry them. God bless you all.
