Galatians 5:25-28
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Love never fails! This is the assertion of Paul in his great treatise on love in 1 Corinthians 13. While addressing the husbands in his letter to the Ephesian church, he exhorts them to love their wives. And not as they deem fit in their own eyes but rather as Christ loved the church, laying His life down for her. In other words, the standard of love for the husbands is not society but Christ Himself. Husbands are called to a sacrificial kind of love.
To love like this is no small fete, and we can never rely on our own abilities. For we are frail and weak and encumbered with selfish tendencies. However, it is possible to love as Christ loved if we rely on His grace and strength. Imperfect people cannot love other imperfect people unless the perfect One perfects them. This is the duty of the husband – to look to Him who loves His bride perfectly and not only learn from Him but also get help. If husbands do this, then they will:
_Be kind; not envious or boastful; not arrogant or rude; not insist on their own way; not irritable or resentful; not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoice with the truth; bear all things; believe all things; hope all things; endure all things._ (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 paraphrased).
Reflections
1. Why is it so difficult for husbands to love their wives as exhorted in today’s passage?
2. If you are a husband or preparing to be one, what should you do in order to live out this Scripture?
