And Peter (I Peter 3:7) points out exactly what that wrong relationship would be: 1) Not understanding her and therefore treating her according to common understandings, and 2) not honoring a fellow citizen of Heaven.

1) There are places we should never go when trying to discover facts about a woman. The local bookstore. The local theater. The local magazine rack. The dictionary. The brain of a man. Or even the woman herself, who knows only partially. As with any created item, one must go to the creator's manual.

Our Father has told us what women are all about. First, they came out of man and are therefore a part of him. Whether married or single a woman is part of man. She was not created to be independent or lead. She desperately needs to follow her man. [ And men were created to follow the Lord]

Women who are driven to lead are unhappy women. Women without a proper cover in the home are grouchy and irritable. They need to be smothered with attention and affection by their love leader. Men who don't understand their wives make the household a sorry place to dwell and evidently upset Heaven too.

For when woman is treated poorly, trampled on because of her weakness, pushed up to leadership, etc, she eventually cries out to God, and in some cases cries out against her mate. How does the heavenly switchboard respond to two prayers that are diametrically opposed? Perhaps to just ignore both? Thus Peter's comment that prayers can be "hindered" by an ignorant male.

2) Perhaps even more significantly, a man needs to remember that it will not always be like today. Today women are told to submit, even to the point of silence in church. She is never encouraged to lead her husband or any man in the assembly. But Jesus said that in that other land, we will be like the angels of heaven in terms of our gender.

Even now there is no male or female in the Spirit of God. God can illumine a woman as well as a man as she reads the Holy Scriptures. Women can have their prayers answered as well as men. Women receive respect for their faith as well as men. And they will be rewarded on the basis of their service, not their gender.

These women we treat so lightly are going to the same Heaven by the same grace that shed the same blood for us. It is not wise to demean them. Though some day we will be equal in gender, they may be far our superior in the Kingdom. Lording it over a wife is no different a sin than a pastor lording it over God's flock. Your domain was not given you so you could be a little emperor, sir, but so you could be a little Christ. A Christ-ian.

Our wives are precious gifts to be honored as such, not as our "lord" as they are to honor us, but as our most important associate through this life. They are the test we have been given to determine our place in eternity. Oh be careful! Love them. Know them. Protect them at all costs.