Husbands Love Your Wives... Eph. 5:22-33

There are some passages in the Bible that may seem hard to interpret, but this is not one of them; "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it;" Ephesians 5:25 We as a body of believers are the Bride of Christ, and as such, He paid a very dear price for us; giving not only His life for us on the cross, but denying himself far more than eyes could see; the real suffering came as He was separated from the Father, as He took all of our sins upon himself; that He might present us a glorious and spotless bride. Oh, that we as men of God could just take on a portion of that humility for the sake of our wives. It is said that the divorce rate among Christians is not much different from the rest of the world; what have we become that would allow that to be the case? Is it pride in the man's heart? Is it the man's selflessness? Is it man's lack of understanding what his role is? Is it that his heart is not surrendered? I think it may be all of the above; they all are fruits of the flesh. I will be willing to debate any Brother, who may choose to argue, that if there is anything lacking in a marriage, it is the man's fault. Wives are called to submit to and reverence their husbands; which is not be very difficult to do, if the husband is loving them even as Christ loved the church. The motivating factor in the relationship is that of the husbands action in loving; the wife on the other hand, is that of response. Sadly, in a lot of Christian marriages today, the wife is the one doing the motivating, while the husband is being waited on, or sitting idly by while his family is being lead by the world. The wife is not called to be the spiritual leader of the home, nor should she be. Imagine, if you can, if the church were the one leading the Lord; it would not take long for that relationship to get sideways. I can recall a few times in my own life when I fell short and dropped the ball; or more like sat it down and then kicked it over the fence. One example I remember, (and there are many), was one time we had began nightly family devotions; it was hard at first to get us all motivated to participate; but after a while, it was like clockwork. I can recall times that I would come through the front door, to see my wife and son sitting in the living room and talking about tonight's devotion; excited to get started, even though we usually did them after dinner. Even when we had company, or relatives staying over, we continued; in fact, whoever was in our house, had to participate. Unfortunately they ended; and when they did, it was because I caused them to end by putting my own personal desires above that which was best for my family; in others words, I let my flesh get in the way. As the head of our home, we are called to be the Priest in our home; being a servant of the Lord and leading our wives and our children in the things of the Lord. However, if we are not totally surrendered to Christ, we will fall short. It is not a one time thing we must choose to do, but rather a daily surrender to the things of this world; and yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit. The more we neglect to do this, and the longer we dwell in laziness, the harder it is to gain it back; and the more the world will influence and steal of our marriages and families. If our wives are committed to serving the Lord, then one of two things will happen in the marriage; either she will take it upon herself to lead, which may soon become a marriage where Christ is no longer center in their lives; or quite simply, the man will no longer be the husband...Sad isn't it?