This is actually more difficult than it sounds. When a guy thinks about love, I think that we generally center our thoughts around the feelings associated with love rather than what love truly is.
Ephesians 5:25 reads:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That’s a tall order. You see, Christ loved the church so much that He died for it. The Scripture talks about how even though we were sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.
Men, it’s easy for us to say that we’ll love her as long as she loves us or submits to us, but that’s not the command. The command was to love her like Christ loved the church– He loved it no matter what.
What are some characteristics of this love?
This love is Selfless
Christ looked at our need, and put aside His comfort to come and be born into this world, to be ridiculed, to be harassed, and to be treated as the sinner He came to save.
Are we selfless? Do we look out for our wife’s best good? We need to be men that look to our families first and foremost in service. We need to put aside our comfort and place our wife in a position where she is special and we are willing to get up and do what she asks out of love for her.
This love is Sacrificial
Christ gave of Himself– his own life. Men, are we sacrificial in the way that we love our wives? Do we go beyond selfless to the point that we will actually take away from the thing that we want to do to do something she wants? We need to realize that we are to love with our being– and all our possessions. She is to be more important than any thing that you have. Is she?
This love is Steadfast
Christ’s love does not fail– no matter how many times we do. Men, do we feel differently towards her when she fails? We need to continue to lift her up, to love her, to serve her, even on the bad days.
Men, it’s not an easy task you and I are called to do– the love of Christ is a really high standard! But I guarantee you two things: That all things are possible in Christ and that when you love her like you ought to, it will make it easier for her to submit to you like she ought to!
- Godly Husband: You Must Be Born Again
- Godly Husband: Are You a Leader?
- Godly Husband: Is She Your Helper or Your Slave?
- Godly Husband: You Must be a Lover
- Godly Husband: You Must Be a Protector
- Godly Husband: Do You Do Too Much?
- Godly Husband: Using Your Perspective
- Godly Husband: What Do You Care Most About?
- Godly Husband: How Well Do You Know Your Wife?
- Godly Husband: Are You There?
- Godly Husband: How is Your Thought Life?
- Godly Husband: How Are You Treating “Your” Body
- Godly Husband: Are You Pro-Active?
- Godly Husband: Are You Precise?
- Godly Husband: Are You Keeping Your Wedding Vows?
- Godly Husband: Are You a Provider?
- Godly Husband: Do You Nourish and Cherish Your Wife?
Great post and reminder to us as to what Love IS
Your last line illustrates the beauty of Christ’s relationship to the church. You’d mentioned Molly’s blog in one of your other posts and how she was contemplating thoughts of whether Jesus was subordinate to God the Father or not, and how that would impact whether or not wives should be subordinate to their husbands. I didn’t say anything at her blog, but I kept thinking, marriage isn’t a picture of Jesus and His relationship with the Father, but of Christ and His bride, the church!
Great post, btw, I’m sure women everywhere agree with all of the above!