May
the mumbling commence!
What
to do with the last day in Ephesians… I
think I will reflect on the passage about the relationship between husband and
wife. This passage strikes me because I
am a married man… who loves his wife very much.
But, boy, the bar seems to be set much higher for the husbands than for
the wives! Read the passage from Ephesians
chapter five (NIV):
Submit
to one another out of reverence to Christ.
Wives,
submit to your husbands as 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,
cleansing her by 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 his own body,
but he feeds it and cares for it, 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 with his wife, and the two
will become one flesh.” 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. (Verses 21-33)
Now,
let me get this straight. The wife must submit
her husband as the church submits to Christ.
Some women liberation ladies will be up in arms about this. However, think about how the church really
does (or does not)
submit to the leading of Christ. In the
grand scheme of things, the bar for women is set low. In many ways, the church fails in its call to
submission.
Husbands,
on the other hand, have a much higher hurdle to clear. Our bar is set to Christ. We are to love our wives as Christ loved the
church. That is perfect, agape
love. That is unconditional love – even
when my wife may not follow my lead… even when my wife obviously has a leading
that I would do good to follow. Husbands
have a much better chance if this was a limbo contest!
May
the profound mystery of Christ and the church cover my weaknesses and sins as a
husband who tries with all his might to love his wife unconditionally and
perfectly!
Enough
mumbling for now…
Peace
Out
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