Isaiah - Verse By Verse | Walking through Ephesians

Walking through Ephesians - Day 122

versebyverse | March 30, 2008 17:12

Thought: To me, a good Christian marriage will look to Christ every day as guide and role model.

Question: Do I depend on Christ in all my human relationships?

Scripture: Ephesians 5:24 (NIV): "Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."

Here we have a more specific guideline as to what submission acts like. "As the church submits to Christ" becomes a wife's model. How has the church submitted to Christ? (Well, in many cases not very well at all!! And by observing the wayward churches, we women can learn how not to act with our husbands!) But in those successful New Testament church models we can observe the code of success: 1) Let Christ be head, that is, the obvious Ruler in all aspects. "What would Jesus Do?" can be a rough-cut guide. If a church asks this at every point of decision they ought to remain dependent and in line with The Spirit. If a wife also asks the same question at every turn in her marital relationship, she should find success with her husband. Hence the words of Paul's at the end of this verse, "in everything." Nothing falls outside of Christ's jurisdiction and neither should anything be decided outside or without the husband's approval. Now, his choice may be that he will want to delegate responsibility to you and not have to be involved. That's fine. To submit would be, in my mind, to obey his wishes in that way. 2) Keep Christ as head by depending on Him. Dependency is a beautiful thing in Christianity and should be evident in marriage. When a church seems to manage on its own it has probably forsaken the Lordship of Christ and chosen rather, in self-sufficiency, to lean on programming, secular interests, numbers, buildings, popularity, etc., rather than simply leaning on Jesus. Leaning on Jesus provides a chance to learn all kinds of unexpected things! We never know where He may lead us but we can be so secure as long as we are WITH HIM! The where becomes secondary to the Who, along with the what, the how and the when! So in marriage. We commit to a "who"--to one man or woman. Where we may end up, or in what circumstances (richer, poorer, sick, healthy, etc.) we find ourselves, become secondary to remaining loyal and dependent to that "who". We are happier in this state of dependency though we may not think we could be. We are happier, even when assaulted by all kinds of adversities, because God created us to be dependent. Acting independently short-circuits the relationship we were made to have with God. And to be out of relationship with God is an instant guarantee of unhappiness. So also in marriage.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help believing husbands and wives to follow in the steps of Jesus Christ as they relate one to another. Amen.