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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Ephesians 5:25-27
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”
If you want your wife to be a princess, treat her like one.
Listen, husbands – if you do start loving your wife as Paul recommends and start treating her like a princess – you will find she will become one – and what is more, you will feel like a ‘prince’.
How did Christ love the Church? Unconditionally. He didn’t wait for her to change or beautify herself or improve. He died for her while she didn’t even care about Him. He redeemed her. He bought her with His blood from the ownership of the wicked enemy who had abused her. He then ‘set her apart’ – made her Holy, like Himself – for Himself. Then He washed her. Yes, she was washed in His blood from sin, but then also washed “with water through the Word”.
The Word (Jesus – The Bible) cleansed her on the inside. Changed her world-view, gave her a paradigm shift and made her positive and faithful, rather than negative, wayward and depressed. As that sanctification process continues, she becomes mature and comes into full bloom as she finds self-worth, security and significance in her Bridegroom.
She recognises what she has been saved from and that she is redeemed and becomes even more grateful. Out of that gratitude flows an insatiable desire to please and be with her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. Eventually each stain and wrinkle is removed and the Bride, the Church, becomes radiant at the anticipation of seeing and being with the Bridegroom for ever.
Listen. That process is for each of us as a part of the Church – the Bride of Christ. What makes a bride radiant? Her hairdo? Her shower, perfume and make-up? Her dress and jewellery? The sunshine on the day? All contribute a little, no doubt, but that isn’t the main issue.
The real reason she is radiant is because she is giving herself unreservedly to her husband. She loves him deeply and is longing for the opportunity of being his and with him for the rest of their lives. That is why a pre-marital or de-facto relationship is so unsatisfactory. It totally misses the point.
God wants all of us to have the sort of marriage that Christ and His Bride, the Church, will have. Husbands therefore need to be like Jesus. To give themselves to and for their wives unconditionally. Give up his selfish pursuits so that she might be released into all God intended. To set himself apart for her, so she sets herself apart for him. What do you still need to do to help complete the process?
Then he needs to encourage her through revealing and releasing the Word of God to her and in her.
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church.
Then notice the difference.
And we all – men and women – need to prepare ourselves to meet Jesus.
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