A young bride was so nervous she says to her pastor, “I’m afraid I might not make it through the ceremony.” The pastor soothes her, saying, “When you enter the church tomorrow and the processional begins, you will be walking down the same aisle you’ve walked many times before. Concentrate on that aisle. When you get halfway down the aisle, you’ll see the altar, where you and your family have worshiped for many years. Concentrate on that altar. Then, when you’re almost at the altar, you will see your groom, the one you love. Concentrate on him.”
 
The next day, the bride walks down the aisle with her chin up and eyes bright. But those along the center are surprised to hear her muttering over and over, “Aisle, altar, him. Aisle, altar, him. And then…three weeks after her wedding day, she calls her Pastor in hysterics…
 
“Pastor,” she cries, “My husband and I had our first fight, it was bad! What am I going to do?” “Calm down,” her pastor answers, leaning back in his chair. “This isn’t nearly as bad as you think. Every marriage has to have its first fight. It’s natural.” “No, no,” she says crying, “you don’t understand.” “It’s going to be fine, trust me.” “Ok, ok,” she says impatiently, “But what am I going to do with the body?”
 
It’s like that often with marriage, isn’t it. You go into it wanting to change the person you’re marrying. Or like the saying goes, men go into it hoping the woman they are marrying will never change, usually referring to physically, and women go into it with a laundry list of things they’d like to change about him, “I’ll Alter Him,” like the story. And soon after, when you find out you can’t alter him, he makes you so mad, you wanna kill him, just like the wife in the story…or vice versa. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It ought not to be that way—especially for Christian wives and Christian husbands.
 
Because God created marriage and God has defined marriage and as the Creator and definer and owner of marriage, God knows how to make it work…And He has laid out the pattern and principles for marriage for both husbands and wives, so that if you follow them, you can have a blessed and peaceful and joyful marriage.
 
And if you endeavor to walk in them, you will find out that not only does marriage work—not only will you have peace in your life and marriage—but you’ll have joy—joy in your life and joy in your marriage—you will actually enjoy being married to your husband or wife—you will enjoy them.
 
And what’s the secret?! You ready for this?! It’s quite simple…Wives submit to your husbands, and husbands know your wives! That’s what we’re going to see unfolded in the first 7 verses of 1 Peter chapter 3 reduced to two commands, one for each spouse: wives submit to your husbands and husbands know your wives!