I once had this male friend who was so cool.  We were both born again and also very fond of each other.  He gave me all the green lights but I could not go into a relationship with him because I was older than him. See, I know myself so well. I needed a man I would find easy to look up to and not consider as my younger brother. Even though I had butterflies in my tommy for this guy, I had to face reality and think beyond the emotions I was having. For me, age is not just a number, it is one of the important factors (values, backgrounds, vision, purpose, walk with God, amongst others) to consider when choosing who to marry.

Getting married to a younger guy comes with its unique challenges, and ladies who decide to do so must carefully consider these before plunging into such a relationship. One of the challenges is respect. Even where you were younger than the man, it is still a challenge, how much more when you are older than your husband! God commands the wife to submit to her husband (Eph. 5: 22). Submission denotes accepting his rule or authority over you. If you are going to marry a younger man, you must be ready to take instructions from him. You cannot afford to consider him as your younger brother or look down on him as one that you have more experience or exposure than (even though you may really do,lol). There will be many times in your marriage when his decision is not in agreement with yours, would you still find it easy to submit, unlike where the man is older? Nothing irritates a man than his wife looking down on him and belittling his role as head.  It is easy to say “love is all that matters”. My dear sister, true love does not lie to oneself!

Another challenge of getting married to a much younger man is the fact that when the facial wrinkles begin to appear and the breasts begin to sag, while he is still looking young and fresh; you may begin to live in the fear of losing him to a younger lady. In addition to this, if you both are desirous of having children, when there is delay in achieving pregnancy, the man might feel that the reason for the delay is the age of the woman (which may be true if she is a lot older); and where the man is not spiritually and emotionally mature, infidelity often creeps into such a home.

In many societies, it is generally expected that the husband should be older, as there is the belief that the older the man is, the more mature he would be. Unfortunately, this is not always so. There are men who even though are older are still not mature. They do not know how to treat a woman right, they lack the sense of responsibility, have no drive for life and are not fun to be with. Whereas, you could find that this younger man behaves even more maturely and ticks all the boxes.

The Word of God remains our standard and guide. There is no command in the Bible for a lady to marry an older or a younger man. The fact that Adam was created before Eve could suggest that it is preferable for the woman to be younger than her husband. However, there are also portions of the Scripture where it was lawful for a man to marry his late brother’s wife and bear children through her. This man could be younger than the woman, it didn’t matter.

My point? There is no hard and fast rule. If you decide to marry a man younger than you, realize that it may be more demanding than expected and carefully consider these points and more before walking down the aisle with your younger Prince charming. The choice of who to marry is yours. However, if I am to counsel you, I’d say that the age gap shouldn’t be too wide apart like you being in one generation while he is in another!

Be genuine about the love you have for him and do not marry him just because he is the only available option with intense pressure to be married!!!

God bless you.

Kindly leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. I’d love to read from you.

Thanks for reading.