What is Nourishing and Cherishing?
- Published in Marriage and Family Life
The Bible says that the husband should ‘nourish and cherish’ his wife like Christ – nourishes and cherishes the church Eph 5:28, 29. What is meant by nourishing and cherishing the wife?
Nourishing the wife: Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, gives the meaning of ‘nourish’ as ‘to feed’, ‘to furnish with food’, ‘to support’, ‘to help forward the growth of in any way’, ‘to allow to grow’ and ‘to bring up’. So nourishing the wife means to meet her needs like food, dress, home,
health care, security and extend support in her weakness and sickness. Other ways of nourishing the wife are by prayers, listening, and loving words. The opposite meaning of nourishing is ‘to starve’, ‘to deprive’, ‘to discourage’, ‘to undermine’ and ‘to retard’ which must be avoided by all means in the married life.
Cherishing the wife: ‘Roget’s’ Thesaurus gives the synonyms for cherish as, ‘care for, hold dear, nurture, value, faster, treasure, prize, sustain, protect, support and appreciate, so cherishing the wife means to look after the wife with tenderness and affection. The opposite meaning of cherish is ‘neglect’, despise, forsake and abandon’ which must be avoided.
Most of the problems in the Christian families will be resolved when the husband begins to nourish and cherish his wife as commanded in this verse. The Bible says that the nourishing and cherishing must be done similar to: The way in which we nourish and cherish our bodies by meeting all its physical, mental, psychological and emotional needs and The way in which the Lord nourishes and cherishes the church.
A MODEL FOR NOURISHING AND CHERISHING
The Lord to the Church | The husband to the wife |
The Lord forgives and forgets all our mistakes and sins. | The husband must forgive and forget all the mistakes of the wife. |
The Lord is gentle and considerate when we do not measure-up to His standards. | The husband has to behave like a gentleman even if the wife does not behave like a gentle woman. |
The Lord never gets angry and never develops bitterness towards us. | The husband must never be bitter to his wife and ill-treat her. |
Even though we are sinful and human beings, the Lord treats us like His equal and never looks down on us. | The husband must consider his wife as a partner equal to him in all respects and never treat her as a servant or as an object. |
The Lord shows His love, grace, mercy and His kindness in our weakness and short-comings. | The husband must be loving, kind, merciful and gracious to accept the weakness and short-comings of the wife. |
The Lord meets all our physical, spiritual and emotional needs. | The husband must meet all the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of the wife. |
The Lord is always with us and listens to all our prayers. | The husband must spend time with his wife and listen to her to meet her needs. |
The Lord stands with us at the time of sickness, and problems. He helps us in time of need. | The husband must be with his wife, support her and help her at the time of sickness, problems and need. |
The Lord accepts us when we go to Him with all our weakness and short-comings. | The husband must also accept his wife with all her weakness and short-comings. |
The Lord cares for us and counsels us at the appropriate time. | The husband must care for his wife and must counsel and guide her in times of need. |