Love & Respect
We have all grown up knowing of unconditional love. It is often used with very close and intimate relationships. Many a times we are told to love unconditionally as God loves us; but what of unconditional respect. This being a fairly new notion in today’s society, one may say respect has to be earned. If that is the case, aren’t the scales a little uneven?
Ephesians 5:33 says, “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” God has said we MUST love our women and we MUST respect our men. God doesn’t say we love our women unconditionally and men must earn their respect nor does he say we must love our men. While most men want love, they thrive on respect. Without one, the other is in jeopardy creating a vicious cycle which may be very hard to stop once it evolves.
This is a hard lesson to learn for some women. This is a hard lesson to learn for some men. Someone has to be mature enough, strong enough, and willing to say, “Yes, I want to follow God’s word, and do what is right by my man/woman.” I am one of the women that learned the hard way. For so long I have felt unloved. It has made me resentful. It has made me defensive. It has made me hostile and any man that has tried; has no fighting chance, because I already held them in contempt. What the man must understand is that I honestly meant no disrespect. I am a good-willed woman who is screaming, “LOVE ME!” I was caught in the cycle and am thankful I was able to dissect Ephesians 5:33. All I have now is my prayers and God’s help in hopes it isn’t too late for me.
It takes a very strong individual indeed to admit their wrongs when they have been treated so horribly for such a long time. So ponder the idea for a moment . . . if women speak the love language and men the respect language, then, we should concur that unconditional has to apply to both. Isn’t it time to stop the cycle!
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