Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
My pastor had a sermon on a wife’s duty to her husband, which included the truths of submission, proactive behavior, and the falsehood of feminism. I’m not married, so I could have just observed, nodded in agreement that other women should take heed, and then gone on my merry way. However, It was a delightful sermon and looking back on it, it fills me with gladness more now than when I heard first it for a couple of reasons.
One reason I owe to those here who speak of their wonderful relationship with their spouses. You might not think it impacts those of us who are single and will remain single for the remainder of our lives BUT IT DOES. It is just another demonstration of God’s faithfulness among His children.
The other reason if for all of us to share in and be abundantly thankful.
Christ is our Heavenly Husband and His church is His wife. When you think about the natural, healthy spousal relationship, you can get excited about what that means spiritually. We are “one flesh” with Christ. We have died with Him and are raised with Him. He does love us as husbands ought to love their wives. We, as His wife, are to be submissive, proactive, and fulfilling the wife role.
As I was praying one day for God’s will to be done, I was thinking about all those things that are His will that we know about. Keeping His commandments, spreading the Gospel, serving one another, etc. I then began to think about His will that we know nothing about until it happen to us. Water pipes breaking in the middle of the night, an illness, your carpenter threatening to charge more than he stated, relationships which have many obstacles, lose of a job, and I could go on and on. I began to realize that everything which happens in our lives is His will for our lives and something that we should be proactive in making His will our own. Whenever we want something done, we strive wholeheartedly for it to get done. This is what we should do with God’s will. His will should be so interwoven within us that His will is our only will. We then strive to have it fulfilled in a proactive and fruitful manner.
When husbands ask their wives to do something, the wife is to do it with a lust for excellence. So for example, if the husband asks the wife to make sure the bills are paid via check by the middle of the month, she isn’t to wait next month for the same instructions. She is to make sure each bill is fully paid via check on the date set forth every month with such exactness as to elevate this duty from her husband’s mind. The wife’s responsibilities can range from small to very large depending on her husband’s need. The point is for the wife to be proactive in being a helpmate to her husband, to serve him in order that his duties are lightened and he is fully served by her. Wives should find excitement in serving their husbands, should anticipate that sparkle in their husband’s eyes when he sees their hard work and how they have been faithful in their duties. That excitement comes from the fact that they are completely head over hills in love with their husband, and they know that they themselves are the apple of their husband’s eye!
In like manner, we are to be towards Christ. He has given His wife a set of duties to perform. We should look at these duties as love acts toward Christ. Thankfully, He performs them through us via sanctification, but our heart’s desire should be a lust for obedience. When His will invades our lives in the form of a surprise, if it is trial, we should run to Him expecting Him to show us His imitate, husbandly love to us. It should be a loving time that we have with Him. Those of you who do have earthly relationships will be able to understand this better, but we who are single are not without some understanding. Christ does caressing heal any wounds that are brought about by these trials, He hold us and sustains us, and fills us with the fruit of the Spirit, and we fall deeper in love with our Heavenly Husband. We should be proactive in learning what we can from these trials so that we can learn more about His love and grace towards us, and thus, conform to His image. If happy, abundant times enter our lives unexpectedly, this is a time to rest on the mountaintop of His plentitude and feed on the green pastures beside the still waters He has given to us to build us up in Him. When we understand that He loves us with a love so deep we cannot understand and understand that He is our Husband who is in control of our lives, then we can be to Him that excited and faithful wife seen in Proverbs 31. I prayer for myself along with the rest of my brothers and sisters is that I be that faithful, proactive, loving wife to Him!
Proverbs 31:10-31
10 An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
11The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
15 She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.
