“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
Last week I commented on 1 Peter 3:1-6. The subject was wives. This week I will center on husbands. I begin with an illustration of Dr. Robertson McQuilkin.
Robertson McQuilkin resigned as president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary, in South Carolina. It was a surprise to many as he was an instrumental force for God's kingdom and the advancement of missions. He resigned because his wife contracted Alzheimer’s disease and needed his care.
He had struggled with priorities of ministry or being a husband to his wife. Didn’t the Bible say that one should seek first the Kingdom of Heaven? Doesn’t that mean serve God above all things? Didn’t Jesus say if someone loves father or mother more than me, he is not worthy of me? What does the passage mean that says "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-- yes, even his own life-- he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)
Although this may have been a hyperbole for the sake of making it clear that our commitment to God is to be greater than all earthy attachments, how does that play itself out if what we are doing is part of our commitment and obedience to the Lord in serving Him and the world as president of a Christian Institution? People advised him to put her in a nursing home so he could continue in the school. They needed him.
He wrote an article in Leadership magazine where he stated that he doesn't have to care for his wife, he gets to. One blessing is the way she teaches him about God's love. She picks flowers outside-anyone's flowers and fills the house with them. In her confusion she picks the inside flowers too.
Muriel would unload items from someone else’s shopping cart and place them in hers.
As she needed Robertson more, he wrestled daily with the question of who gets him full-time, the school or his wife? He promised 42 years before to take care of her in sickness and in health till death do us part. She had cared for him almost 40 years and with devotion; now it was his turn.
To the world the decision of a 57 years old man resigning from the highest post at a significant religious college to spend his time caring for his wife seemed foolish when she would not even know who he was in a few short months. He told the school they could get another president. “My wife cannot get another husband.”
One oncologist said, "Almost all women stand by their men; very few men stand by their women." McQuilkin said, "It is more than keeping promises and being fair, however. As I watch her brave descent into oblivion, Muriel is the joy of my life. Daily I discern new manifestations of the kind of person she is, the wife I always loved. I also see fresh manifestation of God's love - the God I long to love more fully."
Application: Ask God how he wants you to live this out today.
Prayer: Lord, teach us to sort out our priorities in all relationships as serving as unto You Lord.
