Crossroad Online
Ephesians 5:21-33 Vol. 7 – February 14, 2023
Hi, this is Pastor Ken and I want to welcome you to the Monday Marriage Message. Today will be the seventh installment in our series on Ephesians 5:21-33.
I will begin today with the verse we focused on last week and lead into the next two verses for this installment. Beginning with verse 25 and ending with verse 27.
Ephesians 5:25-27 says; 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
The command given in verse 25 as we discovered last week is for Husbands to love their wives. This is notable as it follows the command for wives to be subject to their husbands in all things (verse 24). Worldly wisdom would dictate, it is not necessary for a husband to love one who is subject to him. Rather, he need only rule her utilizing her subjugation to him to control and limit her words and actions to those he finds pleasing and profitable for meeting his needs. However, the command to the husband is to love his wife. Love being actionable will necessitate that he be careful with his words and his actions to ensure that they are found loving by her. If adhered to, this command will remove any submission motivated by fear. 1 John 4:18 tells us, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. The argument has rightfully been made that a wife would likely be more than willing to submit to a husband whom she found to be loving to her in all ways and at all times.
So if the command to husbands is to love…and it is, how is he to accomplish the instruction given him? The answer: As Christ loves the church. In these three verses, there are three different examples of how Christ loves the church. They are listed in order of accomplishment, past, present, and future. Verse 25 lays out how Christ did this in the past tense. He gave Himself for her. We dissected this verse last week and I spoke as to how a husband can lay down his life for his wife short of and yes, including the ultimate sacrifice if necessary. I spoke far more about how we are to lay down our lives for them in ways less than sacrificing our physical lives, because it is in these “lesser” ways that we have greater possibilities of correctly and authentically following this instruction.
Verse 26 indicates a way that Christ is loving the church presently. 26 “that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word”. This means that Christ is currently busying Himself with our sanctification. He is setting us apart. Giving us His own special attention. He is providing for us through the work of the Holy Spirit the ability to fulfill our potential and be all that He has created us to be. He is accomplishing this through the perfecting process of washing us with the cleansing agent of the word. In His prayer for us in the Garden, Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified by God’s truth and then stated that God’s word is truth. (John 17:17) Through the application of His word, Christ is even now cleansing us of our fleshly desire which our enemy attempts to use in order to separate us from our bridegroom.
Verse 27 follows with the futuristic example of Christ’s love for His bride. 27 “that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish”. On the glorious day that we see Jesus face to face, according to 1 John 3:2 we will be like Him, perfect, not having any residual blemish from our past sinful condition. This is a necessary act of His love. Christ cannot be joined and made one with anything less than perfection or else, He by association would also become flawed. As God, He must remain perfect and therefore if He is to be married, it must be to a perfect bride.
So if we as husbands are to love our wives as Christ loved the church…and we are…what do these verses offer us in the way of instruction? We spoke last week of how a husband can lay down his life for his wife. Certainly, we can see how verse 26 illustrates that we should set our own wife apart, giving her a place of prominence in our thinking and actions above all others. Each husband should love his own wife in such a way that she has no question about the fact that she is more precious to him than any other woman on the planet.
Additionally verse 27 indicates that he should make every effort to utilize his God ordained leadership role to facilitate her perfecting process. Men: take caution! Understand that it is not for you to perfect your bride…for you…it is for you to give of all that you have to make every provision for the two of you to be perfected…for Christ. Spiritual leadership is just that…leadership…not lordship. A leader is simply the one at the front of a line clearing the way for those behind him to accomplish their mutual goal. He has no greater value than those following him. If anything, the position of leadership would indicate an expendability that exposes the leader to risk while shielding those behind him from the danger.
Another example of how a husband can love his wife as Christ loves His bride that we should absolutely take from these three verses is offering a love without interruption. Christ loved in the past, loves in the present, and looks forward to the future expression of His love for the church. As husbands, we can follow His example by being careful our love for our own wife is offered to her uninterrupted. We should keep in our minds the love we had for our wife when we were first joined in marriage. We need to regularly take inventory to make sure that our love for her is as easy for her to recognize now as it ever was. Finally, we ought to be planning for future loving action that will ensure her security that she is indeed loved and will continually be so without fear of cessation.
Next week we will look at the final all-inclusive instruction given here in this scripture as to how husbands are to love their wives.
Questions to answer:
- Husbands – In what ways do you try to convey your love for your wife?
- Wives – In the past and or the present, have you understood those words and actions your husband just noted as evidence of his love for you?
- How do the two of you think you do at expressing and understanding love?
Actions to take:
- Discuss the past, present and future expressions of Christ’s love for the two of you, and talk about the impact those have had on your marriage as well as the impact you both think it should have going forward.
- Thank Jesus for the expressions of love that He has been so free in showing the two of you.
So, now gentlemen, loving your wife with the same intensity that Christ loves you…go be awesome!
New Kid In Town – February 9th, 2023
Hi, this is Pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…New Kid In Town
In December 1974, I was 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. Even at that young age I was experienced at what I was doing that cold morning, and didn’t like it…not one bit. That day I was starting at yet another new school. This would be the fifth different one I had attended, my third in the space of just two years. I am and have always been, an introvert, consequently being the new kid in school was always a nerve-wracking experience for me.
The setting for that particular ‘first day of school’ was in a small town nestled in the eastern Pennsylvania coal-mined mountains. Our home, the church parsonage, was at the bottom of the hill the town had been built on. The school was on the upper end of town about ten blocks from our newest address. Dad decided to walk my brother and I up to the school that morning to get us registered and into our new classrooms. I hated everything about that morning. My stomach was in turmoil, my mind imagining a yet unseen classroom filled with students who didn’t know me and probably wouldn’t want to. Then my thoughts turned to my new teacher. Would she be kind, or find a new student to be bothersome? Those concerns and others held me captive in a considerable state of worry.
Undoubtedly, dad could see the worry on my face, and probably noticed the resistance in my step as well. He began to sing. Immediately I hoped we were walking through a deaf neighborhood, and that no one would pay any attention to us…but I doubted seriously that anyone didn’t notice that weird man singing as he walked his boys up the hill. He lifted his voice, “Don’t worry when you can pray…Trust Jesus, He’ll be your stay. Don’t be a doubting Thomas…Just lean upon His promise. Why worry, worry, worry, worry…when you can pray?” Now I was nervous and mortified! Thanks dad, that helped a lot!
That day turned out to have its share of troubles, most do, but in the end I slept in my own bed even if in an unfamiliar room. We would go on to live in that town for four more years, I would make lots of friends, enjoy not one, but two years learning from the best school teacher I ever had before or since, and I would come to hate leaving that town more than I had disliked moving into it. The point of this story isn’t being the new kid in town as much as it is about that goofy song dad sang that morning.
That experience and especially the final line of the song dad seemingly was belting out that morning, “Why worry, worry, worry, worry…when you can pray?” has overtaken my memory countless times in the nearly fifty years since. Dad has offered a good bit of advice and counsel over those five decades, some I remember, much I have forgotten. So why has that memory never been too far away when I have been susceptible to worry? Perhaps it is because I found it so embarrassing. Probably not, I am sure my dad embarrassed me on other occasions I have since let go the memories of. I think…it is because of its biblical truth.
Philippians 4:6,7 (NLT) says, Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
That boyhood experience of mine occurred as it did because I was the new kid in town, headed for yet another new school, and I was afraid I wouldn’t fit in. As Christians we are not living in our hometown either. This world is not our home, and it isn’t always comfortable to reside here. Christ followers inhabit the same flawed bodies as everyone else. We traverse the same ground, we even encounter many of the same troubles and adversities that those who do not know Him do. And when we live just like everyone else does, and worry about what’s around the corner, we rob ourselves of the peace that ought to be ours. And we cheat others out of a real-time testimony as to what living in Christ could be doing for them.
Why did Paul write from a Roman jail cell to the Philippians and instruct them not to worry about anything, but rather to pray about everything? Because he understood what it meant to reside in prison, but live in Christ. Living in Christ means that we look to Him for our value, our standing, our provision, our comfort, our joy, our very state of mind. Living in Christ means that we believe that we are upheld by a power and authority greater than any here on earth. Therefore, no matter what people may do to us, no matter the circumstances they try to manipulate, no matter what conditions might be imposed on us, we are Christ’s. He takes care of us. He bolsters our spirit and sustains our minds and hearts. He is always above our trouble and wants us to know that if we live in Him, we can rise above it too. Paul wrote to the Philippians (and us) that we should not worry because when we do, we become distracted by something the world focuses on, the problem at hand, and that is not the faithful viewpoint of someone who lives in Christ.
Paul wrote that as those who live in Christ, when we are tempted to worry about some problem in our life, we should pray instead. Because we know Christ is greater than any difficulty we face and has the power to minister to us as we go through it. So when trouble comes…and it does, just ask any new kid in town, do what Paul suggests…ask the One you live in…to give you what you need…to rise above whatever you are experiencing…as the two of you walk through it together.
Paul went on to remind us to thank God for what He has already done. Why? Because when we are purposefully grateful for what God has done in the past, it reinforces our faith for the future. When we ponder the fact that He is the Beginning and the End, we can pray expectantly knowing that whatever is on our hearts and minds He has already considered and made provision for. In that sense, we can thank Him for what he has already done about the things we still must go through. Prayer and thanksgiving offered in advance of the move of God is evidence of our faith, and the catalyst for experiencing His power.
What is the result? An amazing peace that God is going meet the needs we bring to Him. It’s a peace so great that it often exceeds our own understanding and according to Paul, it guards our hearts and minds against worry as we live in Christ Jesus.
So the next time you find yourself worrying about a situation you’re faced with, put Paul’s instruction into practice. Pray about it expectantly, trusting that God can and will see you through. Thank Him for all of the other times He has provided in the past, and then enjoy some awesome peace.
So now, forget your worries, be grateful for things God has done, pray about your present condition and then experience His perfect peace…and go be awesome!
Ephesians 5:21-33 Vol. 6 – February 6, 2023
Hi this is pastor Ken and this is my Monday Marriage Message. The Right Questions…
Hi, this is Pastor Ken, Thank you for joining me once again for the Monday Marriage Message. I look forward to continuing in Ephesians 5:21-33. As we have made our way through the passage, I have been expounding on all the ways that the Apostle Paul wrote concerning how married couples are to submit to one another in the fear of God (Vs 21). To this point, we have been looking at how a wife is to submit to her husband. Today men, it is time for the direction of the spotlight to shine on us.
As I mentioned last week the focus of verses 25-28 are how the husband is to submit to the wife. You may remember about a month ago when we began this study I introduced Romans 12:10 into the conversation. There we read the instruction phrased to prefer one another. The content and context of that scripture and Ephesians 5:21 is quite similar. I shared that the words prefer and submit have incredibly close definition in these two scriptures. I bring this up again because as we move into verses 25-28 husbands are called to consider their wives as more important than themselves. In other words, the command to us men is to prefer our wives above ourselves.
Ephesians 5:25-28 says 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
Just as I did with the verses that spoke of the responsibilities of a wife, I am going to break down this passage one concept at a time. Today we will focus on verse 25. When we looked at the instruction to a wife, it began with the phrase Wives submit to your own husband. This verse begins with Husbands, love your wives. Just as we discovered that the word submit means to voluntarily place oneself under the authority of another, I hope to illustrate that in this context, the command for the husband to love his wife has much the same meaning. On the one hand, husbands are instructed to love in a specific way. They are to do so just as Christ loved the church. Husbands are not free to love their wives in any fashion they choose. They must submit to loving their wives just as Christ loved the church. This requires submission to Christ in the sense that we adopt His lead in terms of how to love correctly and authentically. God is love, and if we are going to love our wife as He intends, then we must do so His way. If a husband is going to truly love his wife, He can do no better than to willingly pass along or be a conduit of God’s love for her. That requires that husbands submit to being used by God to transmit His own immense and intense love for their wives.
Additionally, to love his wife correctly, a husband must submit to her. The example given is that a husband love His wife in a very specific way. He is to love her in the same manner that Christ loves the church. Paul wrote that the evidence of Christ’s love for His bride was that He gave Himself for her. Obviously, this means primarily that Christ died for the church. Many husbands, in their desire to be seen strong and courageous think they are rightly following Christ’s example by declaring that they too would die for their wife if need be, all the while knowing the need to prove themselves sincere will likely never arise. Yes, Christ died for the church, and if necessary as husbands, we should be willing to sacrifice our lives in the place of our wife or children’s lives. However when Paul was inspired to write the phrase “and gave Himself for her” there is much more to the love Christ had for us beyond going to the cross, that was but the culmination of far, far more.
When Christ came to earth as an infant, that was not His beginning. Jesus has always been. He says of Himself, “I am the beginning and the end”. The Apostle John wrote that In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:1-3). Furthermore, it is recorded in 1Pet 1:19-20 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Jesus coming to die for our sins had been the plan since before He laid the foundations of the world. What does all that have to do with a husbands love for his wife? Christ’s love for the church was all encompassing. It was not manifested in some things, but not others. It was totally complete, lacking nothing.
Jesus came from heaven to earth. He left a place that was heavenly and came to a place filled with difficulty and pain, much of it He endured personally. He did not plan for eternity past and then actually come and die for our sin because He had need to do so. No, Jesus came and endured the cross because we had need of Him to do so. It cost Him in every way. It hurt Him physically to be whipped and endure an agonizing death on a cross. It hurt Him emotionally to have those He was treating with love scream for His execution. It was spiritually excruciating. His Heavenly Father had been eternally inseparable from Him. But in that moment, The Father looked away from the Son in disgust. Our sin was covering Jesus and the result was that Christ was now intolerable to the Father. His pain at this recognition was evidenced by His outcry, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus could not have done anything more to illustrate that He had decided that we (the Church…His bride) and our needs far superseded His own.
Men, that is our example. That brand of love is the exact kind we are to have for our wife. The instruction to us is to make our wife’s every need more important to us than ours are. We must lay down our desires to meet her needs. If our decisions are to be correct ones as they pertain to our wife, then they must be made out of the purest of selflessness just as Christ’s were in terms of the church. Is it possible for a wife to take advantage of that kind of love and care? Of course it is, as possible as it is for a husband to take advantage of her submission to him. The righteousness of something is never determined by how it is received…only in how it is offered. The brand of love shown to the church by Christ’s action required His preference of us. When we do the same for our wives, we are preferring them as we have been instructed to. This is one of those things that I like to say is difficult but is not complicated. It certainly is not easy to choose someone else above yourself in every instance and at every opportunity. However, it is not complicated at all to determine that a selfless choice is always superior to a selfish one.
Next week we will resume by discovering the reason why we should go to such lengths to put all of our wife’s needs above our own.
Questions to answer:
- Gentlemen – Most husbands are totally on board with the idea of a submissive wife, what are your thoughts about being a subservient husband?
- Ladies – In light of this scriptural instruction to your husband, does it impact your thoughts about the instruction to you to be subject to him in all things?
Actions to take:
- Discuss how these two commandments; That wives are to be submissive, and husbands are to be subservient, interact with each other.
- Consider together if you think they go hand-in-hand or counteract one another, additionally talk about your thoughts of their dependence upon one another.
- In a judgement free manner, talk about how the two of you do well or need to improve in these two areas.
- Pray together and ask God to help both of you make these commandments of His a priority in your marriage.
So now men, choosing to make your wife’s needs your priority just like Jesus did for you…Go be Awesome!
Jesus found it necessary to do two things for these Pharisees to help them have a better understanding of what they were asking. First He chose to take them back to the beginning. So often as was the case with these men, we want answers to our questions. What we don’t realize is that our questions are flawed due to our skewed perception and so an answer to our question as stated will simply propel our flawed thinking. Jesus understood this. The Pharisees were asking a question about divorce. Divorce is a result of flawed thinking, therefore any primary answer to that question would have served only to keep the conversation headed in a flawed direction. Jesus first had to correct the direction of the conversation and did so. How? He answered their question about divorce in terms of marriage. He made an attempt to steer the dialogue into a much more profitable direction by talking with them about their marriages. The second thing Jesus did here was to reorient the Pharisees in terms of their skewed thinking about marriage. They were looking at marriage as a temporary condition; Jesus reiterated that God, the inventor of the institution, saw it as a lifelong covenant.
Jesus illustrated for them in terms they well understood (the Old Testament scriptures) that marriage was intended to take two people and make them one, duplicating what had been done by creating Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. Adam and Eve were one flesh from the word go. Jesus was pointing out that through marriage, God re-creates that situation for every man and woman who marry. Jesus also made it a point that it was God who had married them to their spouses, and what God does we can’t figure out in our limited ability how to undo.
The analogy I like to use is that of a loaf of bread. The baker starts out with separate ingredients. Though he may add more ingredients than oil, water, yeast and flour, those are the necessary ones. After the ingredients are mixed and have had time to rise, the dough that is formed is thoroughly mixed through the process of kneading. The baker does this with great care until the dough is just right, a compliment of just the right amount of the incorporated ingredients. That dough created just as the baker wanted, with informed intent he shapes it into loaves and places it in the oven. A short time later, the dough emerges something new…bread. In the same way the baker has taken the multiple ingredients and made them one thing that we can’t figure out how to successfully separate again, what God has joined, no one should try to separate.
We may have difficulty understanding our “one flesh” condition but it is our reality none the less. Paul certainly recognized this and called it a great mystery (Ephesians 5:32). Jesus said it though, “They are no longer two, but one flesh.” When we are walking comfortably in our new reality we have little problem accepting it, we experience trouble however when we see our oneness as a restriction instead of a blessing. In those times we can think, even if only momentarily that it would be easier if we were able to live, act and move singularly again. That is however no longer reality, nor is it even correct. Ecclesiastes tells us clearly that two are better than one. Learning to walk comfortably in our oneness with another at all times is what is best, and to some degree the learning curve is what God intends. He desires that as we learn to be one with our spouse, we will learn what it truly means to be one with Him.
Questions to Answer:
- What does being “no longer two, but one flesh” mean to you and your spouse?
- What ways do you feel as though you and your spouse are one?
- In what ways do you wish you noticed more oneness in your marriage?
Actions to Take:
- Pray together that God will help you to have a fuller understanding of your oneness and that you will be open to all that means.
So now, looking to Him to complete your understanding of the oneness you share with your spouse…Go be Awesome!
Ephesians 5:21-33 Vol. 5 – January 31st, 2023
Hi, this is pastor Ken, thanks for joining me for the Monday Marriage Message. Today we will continue with our in-depth look at Ephesians chapter 5 verses 21-33. This is our fifth installment in this series, and today we will be looking at verse 24.
For context, I will begin reading again in verse 21 and finish with our focal passage for today, Ephesians 5:24. Submitting to one another in the Fear of the Lord. Wives submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Now verse 24, Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
As you will remember, these verses and the ones to follow are in response to verse 21. Submission to, or preferring one another is a two way arrangement, but is not reciprocal. What I mean by that is that we are instructed in verse 21 to submit to one another. Submission is intended to go in both directions. When I mention it is not reciprocal, I mean that submission or giving preference is not an agreement between two people that if one submits when they should the other will act in kind when it is their turn. IF the command to submit came from one another, that arrangement might make sense. However, the instruction comes from God in His word, therefore we follow the instruction for Him and the actions or lack thereof from our spouse should have nothing to do with our desire to obey our Lord. So submission is intended to go both ways, but should not be looked at as reciprocal. This mistake has been made for all time and invariably leads to a breakdown of submission when we deem our spouse unworthy of our preference for one reason or another based on how they are interacting with us. It is impossible to carry out an intended selfless action from a selfish mindset.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, verses 22-24 are that instruction from God as to how women are to make themselves submissive to their husbands. Likewise, verses 25-29 are instruction as to the husband as to how he is supposed to prefer his wife’s needs over his own, to lift her up and make her most important in the relationship. We have all heard that marriage is a 50-50 relationship. This statement is not true. I have even heard that marriage is 100-100, that whoever needs to put 100% in does so, and then when the other spouse needs to, they will put 100% into the marriage. The second is closer than the first, but God’s word seems to indicate that both are to put 100% in, submitting to one another completely at all times.
Last week I spoke about the fact that the placement of husband as the head of the wife is simply to fill the requirement of order in the marriage. It does not indicate his superiority nor her inferiority in any way. Husbands and wives, men and women are created completely and totally equal to one another. As I illustrated last week, headship is simply in place to bring order, and leaves both parties with requirements to live up to. Wives are to submit to the headship of their husbands and husbands are responsible for the well-being, physical, emotional and spiritual, of their wives.
In light of all of that, verse 24 might seem at first glance as nothing more than a literary exclamation point on the earlier command. However, the original text leads to greater discovery about the original instruction to wives. The Greek word that we translate to Subject has some important intimation. It does not indicate that wives are to be made subject to their husbands, but rather that they voluntarily place themselves under the authority of their husbands just as people who accept Christ (the church) voluntarily put themselves under His Lordship. When you came to that moment and gave your life to Christ, no one made you do so. It was a place in time where you came to the saving knowledge that you needed Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. As your spiritual eyes were opened you knew the best place for you was under His authority and Lordship. In recognition of who He is and in gratitude for what He had done for you, you made yourself subject to Him.
One might say, “But, Pastor Ken, my husband has not died for me like Jesus did.” I would answer, perhaps not, but by that same logic, if you don’t make yourself subject to him in everything, he shouldn’t be required to lay down his life for you. Obviously, when you look at both sides of that argument it becomes mute. In fact in the very next verse husbands are charged with making that very sacrifice for their wife. When we begin to look more closely at that next week, we will discover a man’s responsibility to consider his wife more important than himself is placed upon him by God, and his response will either be in obedience or opposition to his Lord. Likewise is a wife’s response to the call of her Lord to voluntarily place herself in submission to her husband in the same way that her fellow Christ followers subject themselves to Christ.
There are two considerations I think important to make at this time. First, that these commands to wives and the ones to follow that are directed toward husbands are no different than any other command given to us in God’s word. Even the Ten Commandments are voluntary, yet not optional. Every command given us by God Almighty is required of any who desire to be righteous. Yet, in light of the free will He perfectly saw fit to endow us with, obedience to any of His commands is a yielding on our part. We surrender our will to match His perfect will for our lives. In so doing we illustrate our love for God. Jesus said “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. In light of that statement, and this passage, it quickly becomes evident that when a wife voluntarily makes herself subject to her husband in everything as the church is to Christ, she is illustrating her love for God in a beautiful way. The same can be said for husband’s who voluntarialy lay down their lives for their wife, as we will read about next week.
Second, I think it important that we note that marriage is the illustration of the relationship God desires to have with us. I often say that marriage is the practice field where we learn to execute well on game day. For those of you who have not heard me use that analogy before, what I mean is that in marriage we learn all of the necessary actions and attitudes of one who will have a good and healthy relationship with God. It is in marriage that we practice giving ourselves to one only, just as God requires of us…He must be the only God in our lives. Marriage is where we learn to love another with all of our ability and resources. Why? Because God calls us to love Him with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength. Marriage is also the relationship where we practice learning to submit to and prefer one another, just as God requires us to do in response to Him. Marriage is the practice field in this life where repetitiously we become versed in how to be in relationship with our God on Game day…for eternity. Here again, the motivation for why we need to respond to our spouse correctly, is so that we can respond to God correctly.
My hope is that we eventually all come to the conclusion that our marriages aren’t nearly as much about the relationship we have with our spouse as they are the relationship we have with God. I believe whole-heartedly that is the reason God used marriage as the illustration of the relationship He desires to have with us in 66 out of 66 of the books in His word.
Questions to answer:
- Wives – What does it mean to you that your submission to your husband is in actuality an act of submission to God?
- Husbands – How does your wife’s answer to the question above adjust a past misunderstanding you may have held in regards to this scripture?
- How might both of your hearts toward God and each other change in light of a closer look at this passage?
Actions to take:
- Discuss what you think of the idea that your marriage is the practice field where you have opportunity to improve how you will execute on game day.
- Ask God to help both of you look at your submission to one another as an act of love toward Him.
So now, recognizing that our obedience to any command we have from God’s word shows Him just how much we love Him…Go be Awesome!