WFW: Submit and love

Ephesians 5:21-33

21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 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. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I am fully aware that a plethora of today's WFW posts will be focused on love.  We will probably see 1 Corinthians 13 posted quite a bit, and that is ok.  But, as I sat here pondering what to write about, to honor Valentine's Day but stay away from what would be easy for me to do, I knew Ephesians 5:21-33 was were I had to land.  This passage of scripture is usually only half quoted, or misquoted, or an array of other things.

Wives, submit.  The hair on the back of many women's neck raises when they hear that.  If we understood what it means to submit, I do not believe we would have that knee-jerk reaction.  Submit, allow your husband to lead.  Trust his guidance and where his steps are taking the family.  Allow him to be the head, as God has called him to be.  When he is leading down a path a wife is unsure of, she follows him still, speaks with respect, and prays.

Husbands, love.  This is not the love we see tossed about in movies and on tv, and cannot be found in a multitude of relationships.  This love is sacrificial, serving, and selfless.  A husband loves his wife by seeking God, providing for the family, by serving her.  When she is becoming weary under life's pressures, he gently takes some of the burden off her shoulders and prays over her.

Our world has twisted God's beauty in so many areas, most areas, and has really had its way in the area of love.  This Valentine's Day, I do not care about candy hearts, boxes of chocolates, or cards with poetic rhymes.  I would much rather become more of the wife God is calling me to be while walking in step with my husband as he follows God's lead.

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