Isaiah - Verse By Verse | Walking through Ephesians

Walking through Ephesians - Day 123

versebyverse | March 31, 2008 20:49

Thought: To me, husbands have a great privilege in being called to emulate Christ's love (for His church) to their wives.

Question: Do I give a Christ-like love in my marriage?

Scripture: Ephesians 5:25 (NIV): "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her"

Unity has been our byword in this chapter. Certainly the societal base for foundational unity is the family, and the root beginning of each family, the husband and wife. Wives have been first admonished to practice submission, I believe, so that, like the Trinity, there can still be one authority Who is Leader. The others follow. This is not to diminish their importance or necessity. (Obviously Christ is very important to the Trinity, as well as the Holy Spirit.) Husbands, upon having a submission in their wives, are enjoined to love them. Am I saying husbands should love only conditionally; that is, when their wives have submitted? No. Christ certainly does not do that with us. He loved us "while we were yet sinning." But the picture Christ represents in His own submission makes us realize how vital submission is to the whole picture, the whole effectiveness of His love. Could Christ have rightly loved us while being unsubmissive to His Father? Can husbands thoroughly love their wives if those wives are unsubmissive? Certainly unsubmissiveness, or personal rebelliousness, hinders the effectiveness of love.

Nevertheless, whether submissive or unsubmissive, good or bad, pretty or ugly, husbands should love their wives. They are to love them "just as Christ loved the church." What a tapestry of illustration men have in Christ's treatment of the church as a model of love for their wives! Since "the church" consists of people--people connected by believing faith to Christ--we can learn so much from all of Christ's loving ways from every relationshipo He had with any person and all persons. What are some of these "loving ways"?

First, I believe in Christ's life, we always see a I Corinthians 13 type of love shown: always kind, ever gentle, never forceful, etc. Second, we see, in Christ's dying, the total sacrificial quality of Christ's love. He gave His life, His all, for the church. Why? To rescue it, save it, redeem it, restore it and present it spotless to The Father. This is a far-reaching love, a love that "never fails", a love that wins, bringing souls to salvation, NO MATTER WHAT. It is a love that cares to see the loved one made pure and acceptable to God. Christ wants that, yearns for us to have that, and husbands ought to carry that same deep care for their wives--as though responsible for their spiritual welfare. Husbands should be leaders if they are commanded to be lovers, and wives should be followers if they are commanded to be submitters. Leaders ought always to be heavily concerned for the welfare of those they lead. Where am I leading that one? Into good? Astray? Toward help? Away from help? The leader is responsible.

Christ died so that the church could live. He "gave Himself up for her." He traded away His life into death so that the church, dead in sins, could rediscover life. Husband, do you love your wife that way?

Prayer: Father of Love, help Christian husbands to want to copy the lovingkindnesses of Christ in their marriages. Amen.