“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, treat them with respect…” (1 Peter 3:7a, NIV)

As the day I wrote this devotional was my birthday, I thought that there couldn’t be a better topic than being considerate towards our spouses. Without consideration, both sides end up fighting with one another, and instead of being one, we end up in millions of tiny pieces. May we never forget that love always builds up, and it never tears down. That’s why being considerate towards one another will lead to unity.

Let me illustrate this with a historic example: The Urquhart castle, built on the banks of Loch Ness in Scotland, used to be a lovely castle. For many years its residents lived peacefully. Unfortunately, this all changed when Mary Ogilvy became the landlord of this romantic fortress. She thought she was more important than the locals. She saw them as “knavis”, which meant people of lower status or “rogues”. Is it any wonder she became quite unpopular?

On Christmas, 1644, she was chased from the castle, and the castle was ransacked. Many locals even took bricks for their own homes! No wonder that most walls are now falling apart!

This is what happens when we are not considerate towards one another. We end up in ruins! May your upcoming birthday be a considerate one, with no plundering of brick walls!

Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “Marriage Bliss” devotional series, please click here.)