Unconditional Respect?

We expect our husband to love us even on our worst day. After all, they are instructed to love us as they love themselves (Ephesians 5:33). We are firm believers in unconditional love. :) But the idea of unconditional respect might be difficult for us to understand and can even be more difficult to express. However, the same verse that encourages them to love us also says, “and the wife must respect her husband.”

I’ve come to understand that a man’s greatest need is for respect. In fact, our husbands have great difficulty feeling loved without respect. Gary Smalley explains it this way, “He hungers for sincere admiration and respect; and he will gravitate toward those who admire him.” They connect respect to love so closely that they will actually feel despised when we are disrespectful to them.

God knows our husband hungers for respect, so He instructs us to meet that need. Personally, I want to show my husband more respect than anyone else shows him. Even when we disagree, I want to meet his greatest need through kindness, submission, approval, and trust. And the benefits are amazing—as I respect him, it helps him to be drawn to me…