Men: some simple ideas on leading your wife into the Scriptures

On Sunday, speaking to the men of PCF from Ephesians 5.25-33, I challenged them to take a simple (but perhaps huge) step in leading their wives: read 1-2 verses of the Bible with your wife each day and then pray with them. This will be very scary for some of our men. But it is a step that will pay huge dividends. Do it before breakfast, or after breakfast, or over the phone on your lunch break, or just before bed. It doesn’t matter when you do it. Just do it. Show your wife that you care for her spiritual well-being. Lead her into the Scriptures and prayer.

One of our men emailed me this morning and said he has taken up the challenge. I pray more of you will take it up. This man was asking for some counsel on what verses to read. I’m including here a very lightly edited version of my reply to him, and I hope it will be useful for all our PCF men.

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Dear —-,

I’m encouraged that you’ve taken me up on my challenge.

There are many ways you could lead your wife into the Scriptures, but here are a few:

- I like your idea of sharing whatever your ‘best thought’ from your Bible reading was. That solidifies your own reading and causes you to read more intently in your own time with God, knowing that you are reading also for the good of your wife and will share something with her. It doesn’t need to be anything profound. It could simply be something you found encouraging or challenging. Read those couple verses and explain in one or two sentences why you found them important. Then pray them for yourself and your wife.

- reading through the Psalms together is another good approach. The Psalms are often so directly relevant to our lives. Emma and I have done this and found it very helpful.

- or, read through one of the four gospels. Just take it paragraph by paragraph. That will focus you both on Jesus. Discuss very briefly each day what you’ve seen about the character of Jesus.

- right now, Emma and I are reading through John Piper’s book 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Each reading is only two pages long, so it takes 4-5 minutes to read. Each reading is packed with good material. We talk about it for 1 minute or so and then pray together. This takes us back to the gospel every morning. And we always need to be reminded of the gospel.

I’m really thankful for your leadership in your home and I love that you’re taking this step to offer spiritual leadership to your wife.

Stephen

Posted by Stephen Witmer on May 5, 09:10 AM