A Glorious Church

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

I know all the husbands get excited when reading Ephesians 5 and it says, "Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord." Then, we take a step back and are floored (hopefully) when we read, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church..." That is, in the way that Christ loved the church, so ought we to love our wives! Ok, I've got work to do.

But, as I was thinking on the verses following, a new perspective became strong in my mind. Why did Christ love the church and give Himself for it? So that He could sanctify and cleanse it - to make the church pure and holy, clean. Husbands, we ought to love our wives, by soaking them in the word (washing of water by the word). Which will cleanse them, make them holy (Psalm 119:9, John 15:3).

And the reason that we want to soak them in the word, and make them holy and without blemish - vs. 27 - that we can present them as glorious! Christ did it so that "he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Husbands, as we love our wives and desire to have a sanctified and clean bride through the word, then what we are doing is making her glorious. She looks wonderful; she is admired; she is praised by those that see her.

Husbands, love your wives.

Of course, this post doesn't apply to me, because my wife is already as glorious as can be!

Just a thought...

Rejoice with the wife of thy youth

I am excited... I have the day off of work today!

This post's purpose is to talk about my wife. I have been doing a poor job as a husband recently - not spending the time with her that I ought, not trying to do things to please her at home, not esteeming her more highly than myself... I have been failing in those regards.

Proverbs 5:18-19: "Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. [We were married at 19 and 21. I consider that 'youth.'] Let her be as the loving hind[s] and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love."

We have had our fountain blessed. (And I'm not going to apologize for using anything the King James has in it!)

I remember when I first started liking Sarah. That was about 10 years ago now. And, I'm not going to get in to the issue of "Dating" here [though, you can get a good message on it from Paul Washer HERE.] But when she was in the same building as me, I made sure to be in the same room as her. If she was in the same room as me, I made sure to be at the same table or same part of the room. If she ever said she needed ANYTHING, I would jump up and say, I'll take care of that for you.

Anyway, I get to spend the next two days with her - nothing else scheduled - and I am looking forward to take this time to remember what it is to be One Flesh, to reconsider how I can love Sarah the way Christ loves the church and gave Himself for it, and how I can be ravished with her love and rejoice with her.

So, if you guys need anything... Call someone else :)