Many Christian couples desire happy, biblical marriages and one of the surest ways to have such a marriage is to follow God’s commands on marriage. There are many bible verses on marriage but in this article, we are going to focus one that commands spouses to be considerate of each another.

In I Peter 3:7, the bible commands husbands to be considerate as they live with their wives and treat them with respect.

Although this command is directed at husbands, in order to have happy Christian marriages, wives must also be considerate of their husbands. However, what does it mean to be considerate?

How to Be Considerate of Your Spouse

Put yourself in their shoes

As human beings, we often get caught up in our own needs and forget to think about how those around us may be affected by our actions.

Being considerate requires you to think about your spouse’s feelings and put yourself in their shoes. This helps you to gain some perspective on their point of view and is a handy tool for communication in marriage. It also helps you to be empathetic towards spouse.

Anticipate their needs

In a biblical marriage, spouses should anticipate each other’s needs and fulfill them without being asked to. For instance, if your spouse needs to get to work earlier than usual, you can plan to drop the kids off to school so that he or she doesn’t have to. Similarly, if your spouse has a busy week, you can plan to do some of their chores such as cooking, washing up and laundry.

Apologize for your mistakes

Part of being considerate is apologizing when you hurt your spouse’s feelings. Doing this shows that you care about them and want to ease the pain and hurt that you have caused.

When you apologize, take responsibility for your actions and don’t try to justify or rationalize the mistake. Most importantly, do not try to pass on the blame onto your spouse. Doing so makes your apology more self serving than considerate.

In a biblical marriage, being considerate has nothing to do with being a martyr and any marriage tips that say so are wrong. It is more about being unselfish and caring about your spouse’s needs and feelings as much as you care about your own.