Undisputed — Over The Family - Tuesday
Today’s Verse
Ephesians 5:24, 28-29
As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything…. 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. (NLT)
Have you ever experienced a moment where it felt like time stood still? For me, one of those moments happened when my husband and I exchanged our wedding vows. While I don’t remember every word the minister said, I do remember how we repeated those words to each other.
My husband looked directly into my eyes, held my hands tightly, and spoke each word with a quiet intensity. He was fighting back tears, and when he said, “I do,” his voice cracked, and he let go of my hand just long enough to wipe away a tear.
When it was my turn, I couldn’t speak fast enough. I said each line with excitement, and when I got to “I do,” I practically shouted it like someone who had just won the lottery, which is exactly how I felt. Our guests laughed, and the moment was filled with joy.
Over the years, engaged couples have told me they won’t use traditional vows because of words like “submit” and “obey.” Couples say it’s because they want an equal marriage. And they’re right, marriage is a partnership, with the bride and groom as two halves of a whole. But God has given us different roles within that partnership.
Scripture calls for wives to love their husbands as the Church loves Christ. That includes loving, caring, supporting, following, and yes…even obedience. But those aren’t acts of weakness, they’re acts of devotion mirroring how the Church is called to be devoted to Jesus.
And then God gives husbands an even greater charge… to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. That’s not flowery words, but a radical, sacrificial calling. It’s a love that says, I will lay down my life for you. I will protect you. I will put your needs above my own. Every. Single. Day.
I know there are many days when I fall short of Jesus’s best and I’m hard to love in the moment, yet Jesus tells my husband he is still to love me sacrificially. He is to die to his selfish desires and put me first. That tear in my husband’s eye when we spoke our vows was because he understood the weight of that responsibility.
REFLECTION
We have different roles, but one shared purpose: to have a marriage that aligns with God’s intentions, and He gave us the perfect example with Jesus and His love for the Church.
If you’re married, how are you living out your role in God’s design for marriage? In what areas do you feel the Holy Spirit nudging you to grow, whether in love, humility, leadership, or submission?
If you’re not married, how are you preparing your heart now to love and serve well in the future? If you desire marriage, what beliefs or expectations might need to be surrendered to align with God’s vision for marriage?
