Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Ephesians 5:25-26 KJVHusbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.
Ephesians 5:25-26 MSG
5 comments:
I remember first studying this passage, many years ago. And how it tells husbands to love our wives. As if, it were not a natural thing for us to actually love our wives in the way that they needed to be loved and shown love.
And how women were not told that message,seemingly because it was natural for women to just know how to love their husbands in the way that their husbands. But it does tell women to be obedient to their husbands. As if that is not a natural thing for wives to do to their husbands.
Of course, the chapter explains that the marriage relationship is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church.
I have heard many people say that they want to find their "soul mate", like there is that one person out there who is the perfect fit just made for them. My thoughts on that is that there are soulmates, but they do not exist before marriage. What a man and a woman do is to marry, and both of them commit to each other that they will work as hard as they can, to be the best spouse that they can for the other. That they will try and make them better,by loving them, by fulfilling the Biblical instructions that are given for each of them. By making the other person better than they were alone. And by putting their spouse's needs before their own. When you find someone who is willing to commit to a relationship like that, you know that you can work with each other until you are truly soulmates.
Of course,it isn't easy, and it isn't quick. But it is worth it. If you marry someone just based upon looks,or how much money they have,or what you think you can gain from being married to them, you are most likely going to have a disappointing marriage,if it lasts. Only if you both are marrying to make the other person better than they are alone,and put their needs before your own, should you marry. I think that is a Biblical truth.
pigpen51
pigpen51, that's a wonderful commentary on the cited passage. Well said!
I was saved as a 10 year old, but didn't know that there was anymore to it. At the age of 20, I got into a very bad car accident,where my ex wife, my 9 month daughter and I were hit broadside by a car going about 55mph. It picked up my 4 door LTD and threw it 180 degrees into a ditch. It broke my back and pelvis. My ex wife and my daughter were only slightly bruised.
It was as if God Himself had taken me by the back of the neck and shaken me and told me, get to work. So when I was able, we started to attend church, a fundamental Baptist church, and it quickly became obvious that I had a faculty with the Bible,both in memorizing it,and in applying it to today's issues. With the Pastor's encouragement, I started Bible college,but my ex wife was not prepared to be home alone with two young children,and no friends. After a year, I dropped out of school, but of course,that didn't mean that I stopped studying.
After 11 years of marriage, we ended up divorced. We had married very young, but I thought that it was going to last until we died. But she had gone through a lot of mental problems, and just didn't want to be married to me any longer, and we divorced.
I never planned on marrying again,I stayed working up to 12 hours a day, but took a night gig playing saxophones in a rock and roll band.I did that for a couple of years, but a I met my present wife, and after 6 months of so, we got married. And it has turned out that it was the best thing that I have ever done. She has reinforced what a real marriage is meant to be.
Thank you for the complement, but at the age of 24, when I was in Bible college, considering becoming a pastor, I could never have understood it. It took some being dragged behind a car, and through a knothole, to build me into someone that God can use to truly understand some of what He is trying to tell us in the Bible. I had brought up the verse in Timothy, about not being a novice, but he just basically ignored it, saying that I would not be ignorant once I had Bible college.
pigpen51
That's a powerful commentary. It's going to be very interesting to see where the Lord takes you. :)
Today I turned 60. I pray that I can spend the rest of my life doing whatever the Lord shows me I need to do, to further His Kingdom. Plus, I found out that my son that just got out of the Navy, after 6 and a half years, and his wife, are having another kid.
My daughter has a son, and my son has a daughter, 10 years old, already. So I hope that I am able to have some effect on their lives.
Wishing you all the best, and pray that the Lord directs your footsteps, also.
pigpen51
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