Loving my husband

 

Gen 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

The first marriage is recorded in scripture here. The Lord God Himself performed the ceremony when he gave Eve to Adam. “ . . .bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh . . .” he says. That says something very important about marriage. It's not just a joining of a man and woman for tax reasons or to combine salaries so they can buy a home or have good benefits. It's the knitting together of two souls. When I love him and commit to him, I make that promise to become so close to him that I don't know where he ends and I begin.

It also means that I am going to submit to him as the spiritual head of my household:

Eph 5:22 Wives,submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.

Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

You can also find this command in Col 3:18 The husband answers to the Lord for the spiritual fitness of his household and the wife answers to her husband as the Lord's representative. This has always been particularly hard for me because I had a hard time defining the difference between being submitted and being suppressed. I felt they were the same and independent woman that I am, I was not going to be suppressed by any man. I had to read the Bible and the dictionary to tell, finally what the difference was. I have no trouble submitting to God, therefore submission to the man that God has placed in my life should be easy. Most of the time it is. However, I am still human. Now look at the cammand for the husband:

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Eph 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Wow! I have to submit. He has to love and cherish me and care for me as Christ loves and cares for the church (all of us who love Him). That's a tall order, yet the Bible asks it of a man without question. How can we not submit to our husbands when they live out this commandment? When we talk about one another as husbands and wives, we need to remember that if we praise, we praise our own flesh and when we criticize, we criticize our own flesh. We need to let the words that come out of our mouths be kind and gentle, for most us us would not willingly hurt our own bodies and minds. When we curse, we are cursing ourselves. Let us all do as James suggests:

Jam 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Edify your spouse today and always. The love of the Lord will shine through as a bright light in your firmament.

Be blessed today,