Ephesians 5:25-33
Love. 1 John 4:16, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” I’m sure there are many times in which you as a spouse may not feel like loving your partner. Maybe you’re in the heat of an argument. Maybe they’ve broken your trust. Maybe they said something to hurt you. Maybe they’re being unlovable or sinful…but you’re still called to love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
The expectation is set very clearly in the Bible of how we are called to love, but husbands are distinctly and divinely called to love their wives. Unfortunately, our culture does not shine a light on the importance of this. I’ve heard and seen it said that many men by being tough and strong mask their emotions and in doing so it has negatively affected their ability to love and be loved. Loving honestly and deeply doesn’t make a husband “weak” or “soft;” it actually makes them more like Jesus. Ephesians 5:28 says, “For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself.”
When we’re feeling like we don’t want to love, we have to remember what Jesus did for us. Despite our active sin and betrayal against God, His love abounded and He sent His son Jesus to die for us; out of love.
These verses in Ephesians remind husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave His life up for it. Marriage is when two become one flesh. When a husband loves his wife he is tending to their marriage as well as himself. There aren’t many words I can say that are any clearer than what God’s word has for us. We were made in the image of God, and God is love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
The expectation is set very clearly in the Bible of how we are called to love, but husbands are distinctly and divinely called to love their wives. Unfortunately, our culture does not shine a light on the importance of this. I’ve heard and seen it said that many men by being tough and strong mask their emotions and in doing so it has negatively affected their ability to love and be loved. Loving honestly and deeply doesn’t make a husband “weak” or “soft;” it actually makes them more like Jesus. Ephesians 5:28 says, “For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself.”
When we’re feeling like we don’t want to love, we have to remember what Jesus did for us. Despite our active sin and betrayal against God, His love abounded and He sent His son Jesus to die for us; out of love.
These verses in Ephesians remind husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave His life up for it. Marriage is when two become one flesh. When a husband loves his wife he is tending to their marriage as well as himself. There aren’t many words I can say that are any clearer than what God’s word has for us. We were made in the image of God, and God is love.
Posted in Devotional