I was challenged earlier in the week when reading “Disciplines of a Godly Man” by R. Kent Hughes.

I just thought I would share a small part. . . . .

Men, (ignoring for the moment our wives spiritual responsibility to us) do you realise it is your responsibility to seek your wife’s sanctification? Even more, honestly, do you accept it? Marriage will reveal something about her which you already know about yourself – that she is a sinner. Marriage reveals everything: her weaknesses, her worst inconsistencies, the things others never see. Loving your spouse is not to love her as a saint, but as a sinner. “If we love her for her saintliness, we do not love her at all” says Mason. You see your wife as you see yourself, and you love her as yourself. You realise your mutual need and you delve into God’s word, to listen to it with your heart and try, by His grace, to live it out so that she will be encouraged by your life – and thus become an even more beautiful bride for Christ. This brings up some hard questions: Is my wife more like Christ because she is married to me? Or is she like Christ in spite of me? Has she shrunk from His likeness because of me? Do I sanctify her or hold her back? Is she a better woman because she is married to me? Is she a better friend? A better mother?