Love & Respect!

Ephesians 5:33
Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself and the wife must respect her husband.

There is always this war of the sexes as to who will bow down to the other. Are the men supposed to be more loving or are the women supposed to be more submissive? A woman came up to me after church and said she had been in debate with a bunch of men at her job about women submitting to men. She said, “They were saying a woman’s role is to cook, clean, and take care of the children.” I told her, roles are flexible because we live in a time where both sexes are working outside the house but there are two things that are fixed, Love and Respect.”

Love

Men are to love their wives in two ways:

1. As Christ loved the church. That Love was a sacrificial love, an Agape love. Jesus died for his bride, the church. Men ought to die to their selfish ways to do what’s best for their brides.

2. Love their wives as they love themselves. No man has abused his own body (that was in his right mind) or neglected to care for himself. We must take care of our wives as we take care of ourselves. Paul says in verse 29 None of us ever the our own bodies. Instead, we feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ does the church.

Respect

Women should respect their husbands. Paul says that the wives respect their husbands by submitting to them in everything. Respect and submission are important pieces of the same puzzle.

1. Respect means to hold in esteem or honor. When you respect your husband you don’t talk crazy to him or treat him with contempt.

2. Submit means to yield oneself to the power or authority of another. For a woman to submit is to respect the fact that her husband is the head of their family. For a man to love his wife, he sacrifices everything for what’s best for her.
It takes love and respect for a marriage to work. It’s a mutual love and respect. It takes two to make a thing go right. He who finds a wife, finds a good thing.

Dear God,

Thank you for modeling love and respect through Jesus. He died for us, the church, so that we could love and respect each other. Today, I submit my will to yours so that you get all the honor and Glory.

In Jesus Name,
Amen