‘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. ‘ Ephesians 5:22-32(NLT)
‘are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”’ Acts of the Apostles 4:9-12(NLT)
‘And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ‘ Romans 8:26-31(NLT)
Yesterday we talked about the husband being the leader of the home. Today we will conclude with talking about the most critical role of the husband: modeling Christ.
In Ephesians 5:25 it says “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
This means that as husbands, we are to put our wives before ourselves in everything. And just how did Christ love the church? He died for it. He laid down his physical life for the church. It can be easy to serve your wife for a short period or when you have something to gain, but Jesus loved the church sacrificially. He demonstrated His love for His church every day.
In the same way, husbands are to model Christ and plant the seeds of God’s Word in her heart every single day. As we talked about on Day 1 of our study, the role of the husband is to “till and cultivate the soil.” While most of us aren’t actual farmers, we are called to till and cultivate the soil of our wives’ hearts. Husbands, this is a high calling.
As they say, you can’t give away that which you do not already possess. For you to model Christ to your wife, this means that you must be seeking Christ daily to follow his example and learning through His Word. If you aren’t doing that regularly, now is a great time to change that. When men model Christ for their wives, the family wins.
Thanks for joining us on this journey as we learn about what God’s Word says about the role of a husband. For further resources on this topic and more, check out our other Bible studies on YouVersion and visit our website at www.uncommen.org.
UNCOMMEN Reflection: How can you sacrificially love your wife today? How did Christ love those closest to him?
Bible References:
Ephesians 5:22-32
Acts 4:9-12
Romans 8:26-31
from Uncommen: Husbands Defined