Loving Your Wife

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Ephesians 5:25-33

The Message

 ^25-28Husbands, 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.
 ^29-33No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That's how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become "one flesh." This is a huge mystery, and I don't pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.

For Reflection
"...a love marked by giving, not getting."   In Biblical times many marriages were arranged.  They were more a political arrangement than a romantic union.  Today, in our modern world, (especially in the US) few marriages are formally arranged.  We do, however, find marriages of convenience.

However two persons came to be married, if married by declaring in an oath to each other which recognizes a God sanctioned union, they are bound in a sacred relationship, they are of one flesh in marriage.  Is this just a convenient metaphor to help people understand their their relationship to one another and to God?  Or is it "a huge mystery?"

My wife and I have been married nearly fifty years.  My brother-in-law would say it is a huge mystery!  What God brings to pass is both a mystery in process and in intent.  Christ treats his church in love.  He welcomes it back time and time again in spite of mistake after mistake.  It seems that there is nothing his people can do that will result in God withdrawing His love.

So it should be in marriage.  A husband should love his wife to the extent that there is nothing she could do that would displace his love for her.

But, this is not a perfect world and we are not perfect. Love never dies, but does not always conquer all.  God's love abides even when marriages fail.  He does not take sides.  He welcome each and offers a new start.

Pray
for those who's love has brought them together in a binding relationship.  Pray that they will devote to each other the love that is marked by giving.  Pray for those who's relationships are troubled.  Pray that they will find comfort in the knowledge of God's love for them.  Pray that they will feel the healing arms of God enveloping and shielding them.