November 16 | Ephesians 5:21-22, 25

“submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord… Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” (Ephesians 5:21-22, 25, ESV)

Many people have the wrong view of marriage. Every time I do premarital counseling with a couple the woman balks at these verses and the man gives me a blank stare. She doesn’t want to submit to anyone. He doesn’t know if he can love her that much.

But this is what you sign up for in a marriage. Submission to anyone goes against our human nature. Sacrificial love goes against our selfish nature. Submission doesn’t start with the wife. It starts with the Church.

We submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. And that doesn’t change within the marriage. The wife submits to her husband out of reverence for Christ. And the husband sacrificially loves his wife out of reverence for Christ.

Jesus is the center of the marriage. He’s the only one who can make the marriage work. When we try to get our own way it only results in more chaos and hurting one another. It takes Jesus living in us to do the things the Bible calls us to do.

If the husband sacrificially loves his wife she will be able to submit to him. And if the wife submits to her husband he will sacrificially love her. Jesus knows exactly what we need.

Action Step: Find ways to sacrificially love your wife, or to submit to your husband. Remember, we do this in reverence of Christ.

Jesus, help me to love my wife sacrificially, to give all that I am to her alone. I will not look at another woman. She is all I need and your gift to me. Teach me to be vulnerable with her.

Jesus, help me to submit to my husband out of reverence for you. I know that he loves me and wants the very best for me. Teach me to be vulnerable with him.