Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 5/14/12 - Real Husbands

"And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." Ephesians 5:21-33 NLT

Since we've been talking about relationships it is appropriate to talk about the most misquoted and misrepresented relationship in the bible, that of the husband and wife. It seems that a lot of husbands remember that wives are to submit to their husbands but forget that husbands are supposed to love their wives like Christ loved the church. In other words if a husband expects submission, he is responsible to create an atmosphere that would make her willing to submit. That atmosphere includes love, respect, God centeredness, faith, trust,nurturing, and security. Very simply a man who can't provide those thing shouldn't get married and if he is married, he ought to understand why its hard for her to submit. The reality is just bringing ur check home on Friday, paying the bills and sitting on your throne waiting to be served isn't enough. Real husband are kings because they treat their wives like queens. He cares for her, respects her, is faithful to her, considers her opinions, prays with her and for her, and makes God and the love of God the center of their home. He doesn't make decisions without consulting God and her. Even if you are the king, the king has advisers and the queen should be the number one adviser. Lets be real,why wouldn't you want to consult the person that knows you and all your insecurities, issues, and strengths second only to God? We also need to understand that there is no biblical command for the wife to love her husband. It is the husband who is commanded to love his wife as Christ loved the church up to and including giving his life for her? Lastly submission is not blind obedience or servitude, its respect for a husbands biblical authority and his love and submission to God. If you aren't walking in His love and submission to His will, how can you expect that of her?