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**Colossians 3:19** — *"Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them."*
Paul writes this to men living inside Roman households where a husband's authority was nearly absolute. He could be harsh. The culture permitted it. And yet — the covenant call cuts directly against that permission.
Notice Paul does not say *lead* your wives here. He says *love* them. And the counter-command is specific: *do not be harsh.* Not merely "be kind in general" — but resist the particular temptation of a man who holds power and forgets he is also a steward of someone beloved by God.
Harshness rarely announces itself. It arrives as impatience, dismissiveness, a tone that diminishes rather than shelters.
The husband who walks in covenant love is not the one who never disagrees — he is the one whose beloved knows she is safe in his hands.
Walk with that today.
Paul writes this to men living inside Roman households where a husband's authority was nearly absolute. He could be harsh. The culture permitted it. And yet — the covenant call cuts directly against that permission.
Notice Paul does not say *lead* your wives here. He says *love* them. And the counter-command is specific: *do not be harsh.* Not merely "be kind in general" — but resist the particular temptation of a man who holds power and forgets he is also a steward of someone beloved by God.
Harshness rarely announces itself. It arrives as impatience, dismissiveness, a tone that diminishes rather than shelters.
The husband who walks in covenant love is not the one who never disagrees — he is the one whose beloved knows she is safe in his hands.
Walk with that today.