There’s an old story about an English professor who was trying to illustrate how differently men and women think. So the professor wrote these 5 words on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate them correctly: “Woman without her man is a savage.” As you might imagine, the men and the women took two different roads when it came to their punctuation.

Outside of our relationship with Christ, there is no area more vital to the health of our homes, churches, and society at large than the area of marriage. Marriage has long been the favored target of the Devil ever since he sought to deceive Eve and trigger original sin (Genesis 3:1-24). Our adversary seeks to erode the holy matrimony that God destined for His sons and daughters. This reality is hardly breaking news.

He sits in the counseling office, eyes down, a sheepish grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. He’d only been married three years but already had one little guy crawling and a baby girl in diapers. He and his young wife were burning the midnight oil – cook, eat, clean, diaper, work, park, toys, repeat – and by ten o’clock each night, there was barely enough time to say a prayer and catch some sleep, hoping nobody was teething.

I recently posted a Twitter poll. The question was: Is it biblical for a man who is able-bodied and married with children to be a stay-at-home dad while his wife goes to work as primary provider? After over 1,100 people weighed in, the results and responses were varied.

One Sunday a teaching-pastor dared to go where few pastors are willing to go. He called marriage, “work”, and had the audacity to compare a delicate bride and handsome groom to two dirty, bulky, yoke-pulling oxen. Of all the nerve!