by Kevin Burton
Husbands, take note. Here’s a lesson in love from the book of Ephesians.
Whether your wedding anniversary is coming up, as mine is, or not, the Apostle Paul’s admonition should be on your mind at all times and close to your heart.
May your wife warm herself in the glow of it.
“What a golden example Christ gives to His disciples!” is the reminder from Alistair Begg, speaker on the Truth For Life radio ministry.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Eph. 5:25 NASB).
Have you ever been intimidated by that verse? Confused? Has it ever brought you up short?
Yes, you love your wife. But what does that even mean, to love her as Christ loved the church?
I am not Christ and can’t be Christ, just a poor (but I hope getting better) imitation of Him.
I’ve never had Eph. 5:25 peeled apart for me the way Begg does today. Here’s hoping you and I take it to heart, for the benefit of our wives.
“Few masters could venture to say, ‘If you would practice my teaching, imitate my life.’ But as the life of Jesus is the exact transcript of perfect virtue, He can point to Himself as the paragon of holiness, as well as the teacher of it,” Begg writes.
“The Christian should take nothing less than Christ for his model. Under no circumstances should we be content unless we reflect the grace that was in Him.”
“As a husband, the Christian is to look upon the portrait of Christ Jesus, and he is to paint according to that copy. The true Christian is to be such a husband as Christ was to His church.”
- The love of a husband is special. The Lord Jesus cherishes for the church a peculiar affection, which is set upon her above the rest of mankind: ‘I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world.’1 The elect church is the favorite of heaven, the treasure of Christ, the crown of His head, the bracelet of His arm, the breastplate of His heart, the very center and core of His love.
- A husband should love his wife with a constant love, for in this way Jesus loves His church. He does not vary in His affection. He may change in His display of affection, but the affection itself is still the same.
- A husband should love his wife with an enduring love, for nothing shall “separate us from the love of … Christ.”2
- A true husband loves his wife with a hearty love, fervent and intense. It is not mere lip service. What more could Christ have done in proof of His love than He has done?
- Jesus has a delighted love toward His spouse: He prizes her affection and delights in her with sweet satisfaction.
Let’s not neglect the husband’s duty to exercise spiritual leadership of the home. For example see Joshua 24 24:15 (NKJV):
“And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
That’s a form of love for your wife that resonates into eternity.
“Believer, you wonder at Jesus’ love; you admire it—are you imitating it?,” Begg writes. “In your domestic relationships, is the rule and measure of your love “even as Christ loved the church”?
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