Absorbing God Word
“Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Ephesians 5:24-25
Applying God’s Word
Twenty plus years ago, I used the above scripture to open our daughter’s wedding reception. I only read Ephesians 5 verse 24 before the room erupted in a masculine chant accompanied by fist pumps.
When order returned to the room, I proceeded to read verse 5:25 with a caveat saying, “If men expect their wives to submit to them in everything, they must first love their wives like Christ loves the church.” You could hear a pin drop.
It took me about twelve years to begin implementing the above scripture into my own marriage. Once I did, it was as if someone flipped a switch in my relationship with my wife. Her total trust and admiration for me became something most husbands will never experience in their marital relationship.
Ephesians 5:28 goes on to say, “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”
Accounting of God’s Word
Have I come to love, trust, and admire my husband because he loves me like Christ loves His church? Do I love my wife without the expectation of her being submissive?