My quote feature isn't working correctly right now, so I'll just say I really appreciate a lot of the thoughts that have been shared. It seems like most everyone is somewhat in agreement (except for Maxwel
).
From my own personal experience, I know several mature Christian men that I admire for the way they love and lead their wives and children. The concept of a husband's leadership (or
headship, as Matt Chandler put it -- thanks for sharing those awesome vids, Chandlerfan!) was familiar to me but it never became so real to me until I was in a relationship.
In short, my answer to the original question "what does it look like?" is "it looks like
Christ". Don't get me wrong, I don't expect any person, male or female, to be flawless. But when someone is growing in their walk with the Lord and expressing Christ-like attributes in a way that is appropriate to their spiritual maturity level, that is something exceedingly precious. When a man loves a woman in a pure and selfless way, when he seeks to serve, protect, and humbly set a godly example for her (in the face of both success and failure), when he is sensitive to her needs, when he sees her worth as a fellow child of God, when he passionately pursues Christ and encourages her as she does the same, it does something to her heart. At least it did for me. To me, it just looked like Christ. That type of love is clearly not of this world. That's the sort of love that can only stem from the heart of a man who is captured by Christ. That's the sort of love that makes me feel cherished and beautiful. It's the kind of love that makes me feel safe enough willingly and joyfully submit as I have been called to do.
A man can never be perfect, and I wouldn't expect him to be, but a man worth submitting to is a man who submits to Christ.