Crown or Rottenness

For Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Proverbs 12:4

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,
but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

An excellent wife is her husband's glory (1 Corinthians 11:7). She is the fulfillment of the original intention of being a "helper fit for him" (Genesis 2:18). She is her husband's joy, and he delights in praising her: "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all" (Proverbs 31:29). And likewise an excellent husband is the joy of his wife. He makes her secure in his protection and in his love, for, like Christ for the church, he gives himself up for her to present her to Christ in splendor.

All the reason, then, wives and husbands, to strive for excellence as wives and as husbands. You have power to be great blessing; wives have the potential to be the glory of their husbands, and husbands to be as Christ for their wives.

But the wife who brings shame is like rottenness to her husband's bones. She has the power to tear down his spirit through her shameful behavior. She is the one in whom he is delight; instead, she brings him shame. So the shameful husband for his wife. The one whom she is to look up to becomes the very one who acts disgracefully, and so it shatters her spirit.

All the more reason, wives and husbands, to strive for excellence. Your sins do not merely affect yourselves, but can devastate your partner who is one with you. Keep before you to glorify God through the way you honor and love your spouse. For Christ so glorified his Father by sacrificial love for the church.