10.17.2005

Day 7 // Relationships

For some, Ephesians 5:21 starts a gender war. All because Paul said "...wives should submit to their husbands" (v24). Yikes! I've heard men and women draw fierce battle lines as they discuss this chapter (putting on war paint, etc). But let me ramble outloud a bit ...

Guys, we're not off the hook. Read a bit futher ... I think that it's harder for us to live up to these instructions:
Husbands, 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. (v25-28)
Beautiful words. An impossible challenge (I always fall short of Christ's precedents). Personally, I've never been married, but I'm sure there are many times when it is difficult to "love your wife like Christ does."

Nevertheless, it's a pretty clear instruction - with sacrifices on both ends. Women submit to the authority and leadership of the man, and the man pours every kind of love imaginable into the woman. And here's the best part ... if husband and wife are truly "one" in flesh - then technically it benefits both :-) It's cool how God thought of that already.

Clearly I'm no expert on this subject, but I look forward to the journey ...

God: Prepare my heart now. Build into my heart the capacity to love someone like You love them. That's so much love!

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