‘And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.’ Ephesians 5:21-33(NLT)
‘So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”’ John 13:34-35(NLT)
‘So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.’ Galatians 5:1(NLT)
‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.’ 2 Timothy 1:7(NLT)
In today’s Christian world loving is associated with the husband and submitting to the wife. A husband’s love for his wife cannot be measured. Whereas a wife is considered not submissive if she goes against what the husband desires/believes.
An important phrase ‘…as Christ loved the church…’ is overlooked. How did Christ love the church? Christ’s love is not because of who I am or what I do. God loves us even when we willingly choose to reject and move away from Him. He does not force himself upon us. He gives us the space and free will to do what we want. When we repent, God’s love does not reject us. He is always there for us. This love is “inspite of”—it’s an unconditional love. Every Christian is expected to have this kind of love for all human beings. How much more relevant is it in the context of a husband and wife?
‘…Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ…’is another overlooked passage. When every situation to submit to my spouse is an act of me submitting to what God wants me to do, it is doable. The issue with submission comes when there is the issue of ‘ego’. Submission involves letting go of our egos and rights. When we lay our egos and rights at the Lord’s feet we will be submitting automatically without considering it a big deal. I would like to rephrase this verse saying that “let not your egos and rights prevent you from doing what the Lord wants you to do”. Submission is not exclusive for women.
Though a husband is asked to love and a wife to submit, God protects wives who live lives pleasing God, with the command to husbands .
“in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives,
and treat them with respect as the weaker partner
and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life,
so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
God wants wives to please Him through their submission and husbands through their loving
Loving and submitting is for all
In today’s Christian world loving is associated with the husband and submitting to the wife. A husband’s love for his wife cannot be measured. Whereas a wife is considered not submissive if she goes against what the husband desires/believes.
An important phrase ‘…as Christ loved the church…’ is overlooked. How did Christ love the church? Christ’s love is not because of who I am or what I do. God loves us even when we willingly choose to reject and move away from Him. He does not force himself upon us. He gives us the space and free will to do what we want. When we repent, God’s love does not reject us. He is always there for us. This love is “inspite of”—it’s an unconditional love. Every Christian is expected to have this kind of love for all human beings. How much more relevant is it in the context of a husband and wife?
‘…Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ…’is another overlooked passage. When every situation to submit to my spouse is an act of me submitting to what God wants me to do, it is doable. The issue with submission comes when there is the issue of ‘ego’. Submission involves letting go of our egos and rights. When we lay our egos and rights at the Lord’s feet we will be submitting automatically without considering it a big deal. I would like to rephrase this verse saying that “let not your egos and rights prevent you from doing what the Lord wants you to do”. Submission is not exclusive for women.
Though a husband is asked to love and a wife to submit, God protects wives who live lives pleasing God, with the command to husbands .
“in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives,
and treat them with respect as the weaker partner
and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life,
so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
God wants wives to please Him through their submission and husbands through their loving. Loving is not possible without submission or submission without loving.
My prayer for everyone reading this devotion, is that they would seek God’s help to discover and be the person God wants them to be in their marriages.
. Loving is not possible without submission or submission without loving.
My prayer for everyone reading this devotion, is that they would seek God’s help to discover and be the person God wants them to be in their marriages.
from Being Real In Our Marriages by Sherene Ellen Rajaratnam