8 Great Ways to Honor Your Husband: To Honor is to Give My Best

by Marilynn Chadwick “Let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:33). I have been inspired by what the Bible teaches us about honor. As a result, I have tried to be more intentional about showing honor to David. However, I’ve come face to face with an important realization: Honor demands far more from me than simply submission. Please understand. I fully appreciate submission in marriage as part of the biblical framework of love and respect. But to truly honor my husband, I have to set the bar much higher than submission. Honor requires self-sacrifice. Humility. It challenges me to bridle not just my words, but also my thoughts. It makes me bite my tongue. Honor confronts me with my sin. It forces me to see everything that gets in the way of me giving my best. I can choose to build up my husband or to break him down. This plays out with the words I speak to him and the words I speak about him. I must use my words to encourage his leadership to flourish within our family. For example, the words I speak to our children influence what they think about their dad. Same with outsiders. Careless words can tarnish his reputation in the eyes of others. Proverbs 14:1 reminds us that a wise woman “builds her house,” but a foolish one “tears it down.” As wives, we sometimes forget the weight our words carry. Showing respect is vital to any healthy marriage. But when it comes to honoring our husbands, it helps to understand that no two marriages or men are exactly alike. Words and actions that make my husband feel honored and respected might go right over the head of your husband. But this truth is consistent, if I want to honor David, I have to become honorable myself. Same holds true for you. So in this way, honor conforms all of us to the image of Christ. Honor requires a strong walk with the Lord. I guess you could say that to truly honor my husband, I must give my best to cultivate a heart of honor. Honor, even more than submission, is an imposing benchmark. It’s a sublimely powerful target. For if I take aim and hit the bullseye of honor, I am probably covering all the other virtues that make for a strong marriage. Honor him by giving him your best!