Having a headache with a stiff neck is fairly common. When your neck is stiff, it makes your head hurt and when your head hurts, it makes your neck stiff!
Whichever happens first, the end result is the whole body suffers. According to my doctor, the best way to cure the stiffness and headache is to take aspirin for the inflammation and then apply warmth to promote healing. (+)
The Bible refers to the husband as the ‘head’ of the wife (I Corinthians 11:3). The scripture continues on to reveal that Christ is head over man and God over Christ. Ephesians 5:22-24 says that the man/wife marriage relationship represents the intimacy of our personal relationship with Christ. No wonder that satan works so hard to destroy the example set in marriage!
The scripture makes no inference of a husband’s harsh dominance, but rather a position of tender and loving leadership. Christ did not come to demand we serve Him, but rather to love us and set an example for us. In being loved, we respond by returning that love to God and to those around us.
Our service to Christ is born from our reciprocal love. We love Him because He first loved us (I John 4:19). When a husband treats his wife with tenderness, not demanding obedience but wooing loveliness, Christ’s love for us is represented.
When a man falls prey to satan’s many tricks to remove his natural position of leadership in Christ, the entire family is weakened. Interesting, perhaps, is the observation that if the man is considered to be the head, the inference can be made that the wife is the neck.
Sometimes, when satan is trying to destroy the example of Christ in the home, his best attack can be to the neck; to make it (her) stiff and unyielding. When the neck is stiff, the head hurts. The head and the neck work together, neither can serve their role independently of each other in marriage.
Regardless of what or who we blame for the loss of Christ centeredness and discord in the home, it is an attack of satan that is the real reason (Ephesians 6:12). Anytime that there is a loss of Godly leadership in the home, there is a breaking of relationship with Christ.
Only when we realize the real source of discord, can we be victorious. The concept of the husband’s leadership in relationship is so important that if lost, your prayers can be hindered (I Peter 3:7)! Be alert and resolve conflict in prayer. Don’t let Christ’s leadership in your home be lost by a root of bitterness you allowed to be planted in your home.
When a man and wife serve each other in love, working together to establish the family in Christ, there is no space for satan to plant seeds of discord. When the man is the appointed ‘head,’ leading in Christ’s example, it is natural for a wife to follow her husband’s leadership. Christ should be the established head of the home.
When a man is, in all of his ways, completely committed to Christ, he can say, as Paul did in I Corinthians 11:1, ‘follow me as I follow Christ.” When the head hurts and the neck is stiff, use prayer to fight the inflammation, then, apply the healing warmth of the Spirit.
Prayer: Father, help me to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Christ is over all in any marriage relationship; show me how to serve and love as Jesus did. Amen
I Corinthians 11:3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Scriptural References:
Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 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. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
I John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
I Peter 3:7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
I Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
(+) not intended as medical advice, always check with your personal physician before self treatment