tmeiers

situation that he has ordained, and we ask him to change it.
I am only drawing out an analogy here, not an exact comparison.
The  church  never  confronts  Jesus  with  his  imperfection.  He
has  no imperfections. But we do seek from him changes in the
situation he has brought about. That is what petitionary prayer is.
So wives, on this anal-ogy, will ask their husbands to change some
ways he is doing things.
All Husbands Need Change
But the main reason we can say that wives may and should seek
their husbands'  transformation is  that husbands  are  only  similar
to  Christ in the relationship with their wives. We are not Christ.
And one of the main differences is that our character and habits
need to change, and Christ's  don't. We  are  like  Christ  in  the
relationship,  but  we  are  not Christ. Unlike Christ, we are sinful
and finite and fallible. We need to change. That is a clear and
universal New Testament teaching. All men and women need to
change.
Wives Are Loving Sisters in Christ
Another factor to take into account is that wives are not only
wives, but in Christ they are also loving sisters. There is a unique
way for a submis-sive wife to be a caring sister toward her imperfect
brother-husband. She will, for example, from time to time,
follow Galatians 6:1 in his case: "If anyone is caught in any
transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit
of gentleness." She will do that for him.
And not only Galatians 6:1, but other passages as well. For
exam-ple,  both  of  them—spiritual  husband  and  spiritual
wife—will  obey Matthew 18:15 as necessary, and will do so with
the unique demeanor called for by headship and submission: "If
your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between
you and him alone."
The Danger of Nagging
All of this has to be balanced by the danger of nagging. It is a sad
thing when a woman longs