Welcome back to the podcast. We're going to end this week talking about a marriage struggle.

We've talked about many of the struggles and tensions, marriages face over the years of this

podcast. Here's another one of those topics when we haven't directly addressed yet. It comes

to us from a young wife who writes in anonymously to say this. Pastor John Hello and thank you for

this podcast. I have a question about your point that men, oh women, a special kind of care.

You've made this point several times on this podcast. In particular, Paul commands husbands to

not be harsh with their wives. He says this in Colossians 319. You say quote,

this admonition to men is owing to a peculiarly male temptation to be rough even cruel

into a peculiarly female vulnerability to that violence on the one hand and to a natural female

gladness on the other hand to be honored with caring protection and strong tenderness.

In quote, my question is this. My husband is not violent towards me. Praise God. But he is harsh. He's

just not a gentle man. How should I approach this topic with him? Well, if I'm talking to the husband,

so I need to just say this to get it out of the way and make sure it doesn't go unsaid.

If I were talking to the husband, I would have lots to say biblically, spiritually,

relationally about how he needs to deal with his own sins and personality quirks or weaknesses.

But that's not the question she's asked. She asked me us. How can I most

helpfully approach him on this topic? So that's what I'm going to talk about,

perhaps with I think I have five suggestions. Here they go. First, I would encourage our friend

to pray both for her husband and for herself in this matter of his harshness. Jesus said that

we should ask God that his will would be done on earth. That would include in our marriages

as it's done in heaven. And that includes that his will be done the way the angels would do it.

Husbands would love their wives and wives would love their husbands the way angels obey God,

...