Time to Man Up!!!

I am surprised with myself that I have not touched on this subject yet considering my passion for it.  What is this passion?  It is my desire to see as many men as possible get themselves into their right place with God, their wives/girlfriend, and children.  We as men have an extremely important role in the lives of those around us.  Studies have been done time and time again showing that the importance of a father in a child's life.  People (myself included) spend their entire lives trying to live up to their father's expectations.  Even whenever you hear about somebody being in prison one of the first things that they describe about their childhood is that their father was there but wasn't a father, or that he wasn't there to begin with.  I do not have children myself, but I am mentoring a child that does not have a father.  I can tell you that from my experience of not having my father around, it sucks!  As valuable as the mother is, she is not the father.  She can only teach them so much. There are countless places in Scripture where fathers are instructed on how to behave.  Furthermore, keep in mind that how you behave, your children are going to behave.  If you belittle your wife in front of your children, they are not going to have any respect for her and the entire household will go into chaos.
Now to the husbands.  This is what I am going to spend the most time on because I am in fact married.  I am so sick and tired of hearing women that bash their significant others because they are not the person that they thought that they were when they got into a relationship with them.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes the woman has a right to complain, sometimes not.  However I am going to focus on the men in this post.  Men, we are not called to be rude, disrespectful, flesh-driven, porn-addicted, heathens that we see so much of in our society.   We are to be as Christ was.  First of all, He defends His bride (the body of Christ), speaks to her with respect, LOVINGLY corrects her, and does what is necessary to provide for her (more on that in a second).  If your job makes it where all of your time is spent doing work stuff and you miss every opportunity to spend time with you wife, you need to reassess your career.  Its called quality time, one of the 5 love languages.  I suggest you find out how high on your wife's list that one is.  There is more to it all than just spending time together.  We are also called to lead our home with authority.  YOU ARE THE PRIEST OF THE HOME!!!  You are the final decision maker.  Ephesians 5:22-24 ²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  Ladies, please dont beat on me just yet.  I know what comes after this part, give me some time.  But men, you are the CEO of Your House, Inc.  Dont abuse your authority, but use it for the betterment of all involved.  Now to how you treat your wife.  Ephesians 5:25-28 ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[a] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  Wait a second, did he just say washing her with water through the word?  You mean you have to minister to them?  THAT'S RIGHT!!!  Therefore that puts you responsible for her physical well being as well as spiritually.  You're the one in charge remember?  With great authority comes great responsibility.  You are to love your wife as you love yourself as well.  So I pose to you this question:  Would you allow someone to talk to you the way that you talk to your wife?  Would you allow someone to treat you the way that you treat her?  I suddenly feel silence from those that might be reading this.  
It's gut check time brothers.  Time to get in our role that God placed us in.  Be the warrior of God for your family that you are called to be.  Let's find out what we are doing in our home that might not be the best.  Talk to your spouse about the way that she feels that your relationship is.  Do NOT get angry with her response.  Take it as constructive criticism.  Talk out your problems.  There are plenty of men's ministry books that can help.  If you are not already connected with men in your church, do so.  Its called discipleship for a reason.  You need that accountability and someone to go to for advice.  Time to MAN UP fellas.  Your wife, your children, and you depend on it!