Greetings friends… I apologize that the “Daily Bible Verse” hasn’t been daily over the last several weeks. Lori and I are now getting settled in on the mission field and we are still without a consistent internet connection. Hopefully this will be resolved this next week… I am also hopeful that we will be able to post daily again soon. Until then, here is the latest 🙂

Eph 5:25-33 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, (26) that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, (27) so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (28) In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. (29) For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, (30) because we are members of his body. (31) “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (32) This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (33) However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Greater love has no one but this, that a man shall lay down his life for his friend. (John 15:13) Paul gave the command for the wives to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord. As challenging as this is at times, Paul doesn’t hold back for husbands. The command for the men to love their wives is to guard the marriage relationship from abuse of the right of having authority over ones wife. Men are to have the same spirit of love for their wife as Christ has for the church. The love that says, “I am willing to lay down everything for you, including my life.” When a man does this in a marriage, the ability for the wife to submit will be more than welcomed by the wife. When we know that someone is willing to love us to the point of death, we are ready to come under their authority and be willing to submit.

But Paul doesn’t stop there. It is far more than simply saying I love you so much I will die for you. The love a husband has for his wife is to be a sanctifying love, or a love that is set apart, cleansing her and himself in such a manner that they both look more like Christ through the word. Just as Christ has set apart a people for himself, so too is the man to set apart his wife by keeping her free from the stains and wrinkles of the world. Since the two have become one, how the man treats and presents his bride to the world is to be how Christ presents His church. Just as a man loves his own body, so he ought to love his wife in the same manner.

We’ve all been there… there is an argument about something and the last thing any of us feel like doing is loving our wife the way Christ loves the church. Bitterness creeps in, frustration, and often anger will cause a wedge in the relationship. But there is hope for restoration when we begin to nourish and cherish our wives over our own desires. When we, as husbands, begin to love our wife as much as we love our own flesh and care for the needs she has over our own, we then begin to look like Christ. As John shares in his gospel, no greater love is this than one who lays down his life for his friend. Laying down our life can be simply laying down our pride in order to resolve a difficult situation. Or laying down our spare time to have a conversation with our bride. Or it can be laying down our expectations and trying to meet the needs or her over our own needs.

Paul’s command for submission from wives can be a challenge if it comes in a marriage where the husband is not also fulfilling his God given role. It is not and if/then deal in marriage however. If he loves me I will submit, or if she submits to me then I will love her. It is all about what Paul shares in verse 21… submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. It is about each one of us taking our responsibility to the marriage seriously and lovingly regardless of our spouse and knowing that it is done in and through and for the glory of Christ.