Thought for Thursday
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it. Ephesians 5:25
A young man who was recently married was very devoted to his lovely young wife. He showered her with gifts and attention, and focused everything in his life around her. He worked hard to provide her with everything she could ask for, and he spent as much time as possible in her company. Aware that some people considered his attention to his wife to be excessive, he approached the elders in the Assembly. ‘Do you think it’s possible,’ he asked, ‘that I love my wife too much?’ One of the elders gently pointed him to our text today and suggested that, compared to Christ’s love for us, the young man still did not love his wife enough. What a wonderful example our Lord has set before us in how Christian men should treat our ‘better half’!
When we consider the example of our Lord, most of us have to hang our heads in shame. We are not able to even understand the depths of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Unlike us, He was not selfish and inconsiderate. His sacrifice for His bride was so far beyond what any of us could hope to copy. And yet, our text tells us that as husbands, we are to love our wives in the same way that our Lord loved the Assembly. Even though we could never match His devotion and sacrifice, we should use His example as our guide.
How much different would life be if all Christian husbands obeyed this text? Some would say we would be all henpecked, and our wives would take advantage of us. But that is being pathetically unfair to our wives to suggest that. If husbands honestly made a valiant effort to obey this text, wives could not help but be impressed. Such a powerful display of affection and devotion would make its mark on them, and they would find their devotion to their husbands growing in leaps and bounds. They would be so impressed by their husbands’ imitation of Christ that they would do everything in their power to do the same. Neither the husband nor the wife would be the loser, in fact, each would find their lives together to be deeply enriched and blessed.
The Holy Spirit would not have left this command on the pages of Holy Writ unless it was for our blessing and benefit. In a very practical way, we have nothing to lose by obeying this text. – Jim MacIntosh