Ephesians 5:25-26 (NIV)

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word….

Our Verse of the Day should remind us that our roles as fathers began with our roles as husbands. Here, husbands are exhorted to be for our wives what Christ Jesus is for His bride … the Church.  Paul asserts that the intimate relationship that is forged between a man and woman within their marriage covenant is reflective of the intimacy that Jesus desires with each member of His Body. And men, in particular, are responsible to initiate and foster the love that is formed within that union. Let’s review the full passage here:

Ephesians 5:21-33 (NIV)

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, having cleansed her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of His body. “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” (Citing Genesis 2:24) This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the Church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Within this larger section of Ephesians 5, we find the broader theological concepts of sacrificial love; putting the needs and interests of our wives above our own; mutual submission to one another out of reverence for Christ; and recognition of the abiding love we are to cultivate with our Lord Jesus … as it can be understood through the covenant relationship of marriage. The insights and instruction Paul affords men and women here are essential not only for their marriages to be vital and healthy, but for their understanding of how to achieve greater intimacy and fulfillment … the purpose of which is to draw each of us into an intimate relationship with Christ! And so, to the men who are married, I encourage us to honestly evaluate our relationships with our wives in light of the truths Paul has presented here. I believe that any area we identify for improvement in our marriages might also present in our relationships with Jesus. Likewise, I would venture to surmise that when we examine ourselves, if we are moved to repentance and a greater submission to Christ, then I believe we will experience a corresponding impact for our marital relationships. I just think that our humble, reverent submission to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is inseparable from our role as head of the marital relationship with our wives; and our relationship with Christ is key to understanding how the “covenant of love” is fulfilled within our marriages.

Fathers, I believe one of the greatest gifts we can give our children are marriages that emulate the relationship of Christ Jesus with His Bride … His Body … the Church. Through the genuine, faithful efforts of fathers to passionately demonstrate sacrificial love for their mothers, I believe children will develop a better understanding of God’s love through Christ Jesus; and this in turn can cultivate their hearts and plant seeds of faith within them to grow intimate relationships with God as well. Yes, I believe this has been the design of God from the beginning for families: to nurture relationships both reflective of God’s love and expressive of God’s personal relationship with each one of us. The process begins with our covenants of marriage, and it extends with the births of our children. Fathers have a God-ordained role in the leading and fostering of their marriages and households; and our Heavenly Father has equipped us to fulfill this role. As the Church represents the Body of Christ, so our wives and children represent an extension of ourselves. As we have authority over our own bodies, so we have been given authority over our homes as well.  Indeed, it is a tremendous responsibility that we have been delegated; and I feel certain we will be held accountable for how we accepted this responsibility.  So, let us be bold and courageous in both our pursuit of God and in the fulfillment of our duties as husbands and fathers…. Amen.

So Now You Know…

Have a Blessed Day!

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So, the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky, and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So, the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. ~ Genesis 2:18-24