To Love Their Husbands

A few weeks ago, as you will recall, tests were made in the Pacific Ocean, near Bikini Island, of the atom bomb. The second of those trials consisted of the explosion of one of the missiles under the surface of the water. Reporters permitted to observe the results virtually exhausted their supply of adjectives in an attempt to
portray the tremendous repercussion which sent a huge volume of water and spray more than a mile high, and sank ten ships and submarines. Truly the atom bomb is one of the most powerful forces ever unleashed on earth. But there is one thing stronger and more potent. It is "love.

It was love for humanity which caused God to send His Son into this world to die for us; it was love which caused that Son to endure the agonies of the cross. Force can demand, but love com­mands! Force can destroy happiness, but only love can bring hap­piness. In our investigation of those things which assure the attainment of happy homes, we are not astounded or amazed to find love given first place.

In Titus 2:4, young women are taught to "love their own hus­bands." All the joy and bliss that comes in marriage proceeds from love. Just as surely as love goes out the window, happiness goes out the door. You may live in a mansion that cost a million dollars, you may be attended by servants and maids who come at your beck and call, you may gaze out of your window upon splendid terraces whose landscaped beauty bespeaks the work of the most skilled artist, but if there is no love in your home, it is a prison rather than a castle, and you are a slave, bound and shackled by discouragement and disgust.

You may arrange lavish entertainments to which the cream of society gravitate like moths about the candle flame; you may have the finest musical instruments
produced by the ingenuity of man; you may drive a custom built car which is the envy of all in your neighborhood, but if there is no love in your home, you are poor, neglected, forsaken and accursed with tragedy. No forms of eti­quette, no manifestation of courtesy, no exaggerated politeness can be a compensation or atone for the lack of love. All of these are hollow mockeries where genuine, pure, hallowed and unadulterated love do not exist.

I have visited in homes of the wealthy where deep pile rugs absorbed the tread of every step, yet those homes were like refrig­erators. There was no warmth, no glow of affection for each other. Then, I have been in the log cabins deep down in the hills, where poverty was written upon all of the surroundings, and where only the bare wood constituted the floor, but there was a feeling of happiness, of home-like comfort and of joy within those whitewashed walls. This was a home because of love; the other, a house in which reverence was lacking.

There is too much of divorce and the tragedy of broken homes in the news of today. If the Scriptures were heeded, this condi­tion could not exist. What is the trouble? I answer that there are many who have a false idea of marriage. They are educated by the screen to think that marriage is all glamour and glow. The sex side of life is portrayed so constantly and vividly in literature and on the screen that many are led to believe they need expect only a constant thrill. When the honeymoon is over and they settle down to the routine of daily living, the excitement passes away, and many times with it goes the ardor of first love. Dissatisfied with each other, the partners look elsewhere for gratification, and seek other bodies for thrill. So lives are wrecked, the ship of home tosses upon the stormy waves of passion and is wrecked upon the rocks of dissipation.

It is possible for wives to learn to love their own husbands, or Paul would not have said to teach them to do so. It would be foolish to teach unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in every thing." That is an unpopular subject these days, but it is a scriptural one!

It is appropriate that the wife should rely upon the decisions and depend upon the counsel of the husband. It is becoming to do that. I read, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own hus­bands, as it is fit in the Lord" (Colossians 3:18). Love is a reciprocal something. We tend to love those most emphatically who love us. If you would be loved, you must love! Proverbs 14:1 declares, "Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her own hands." A lot of times
you are responsible for conditions by which you are surrounded. Perhaps your own selfishness, your petty littleness have contributed to those conditions. Look at yourself and ask if you may be tearing down your chances for happiness by your actions and conduct!

You may profit by the experience of a wife whom I know. She had been reared in the city, but while on vacation in the country met a young man who dated her several times. After writing to each other for about two years, they were married and started housekeeping on the farm which the young man had purchased. It was vastly different than what the young wife had planned. She secretly rebelled against the chores that she was called upon to perform. Then she started brooding over the fact that she could not attend a lot of the social functions to which she once went in the city. The result was that she decided to return to her former home, leaving her husband, at least for a while. But even while she was making preparations for this step she became seriously ill. Her husband gave her every attention. Her wants were first in his daily schedule. He watched by her bedside and even antici­pated her needs. Day by day, he neglected other things in order that he might care for this one who had been on the verge of leaving him.

While the wife was sick, she had time to think seriously and soberly. She now realized that she had planned an injustice to one she really loved. She knew that she had not fully given herself to her husband from the first, that she had held in reserve a craving for her former life and associates. Now, with the reali­zation that he possessed all of the qualities of manhood which go to make a loyal companion, she changed her mind. They are hap­pily married today and their farm is truly a home.

You cannot divide your affection and still be true to the one whom you promised to love and cherish. Give yourself freely, fully and wholly to the task of creating a home with your loved ones. Learn the great secret of contentment, for the Bible says that "godliness with contentment is great gain." Let us be satisfied with what we have but not with what we are. Let us strive to build more noble characters of our lives and inspire our loved ones to greater heights. That is the secret of our being on earth-to help others!