I have been focusing on loving God, yourself, and your neighbor. The last area of love I want to discuss is, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her...(Ephesians 5:25, NKJV) Christ gave himself for the church. What is the church? The Greek word used in the New Testament was ekklesia, meaning assembly, congregation or called out. We read in Acts 2:47 about those who obeyed what Peter told them to do in Acts 2:38 and it says, And the Lord added to the church (called out, assembly or congregation) daily those who were being saved.
We have just read above of Christ's love for these people. He gave Himself for them. He also taught them how to live to please God the Father and also how to love their fellowman. Christ wanted husbands to love their wives the same way. We are to love our wives so much, that we would be willing to die protecting them, as Christ died protecting the called out from being spiritually lost.
What are the effects of Christ dying for the lost? The sacrifice needed to be perfect and we did not have a perfect one to give. He did it for us on Calvary. He taught us how to live in this fallen world with all it's pain and suffering. He taught us how to love and to love even our enemies. These early Christians had such a faith they were willing to die for it. The good news spread quickly to other lands.
What about husband's loving their wives in this manner? What impact would this have on our country? Would the family structure, as God would have it, be stronger than it is today? Would the children in our country be better off, if their dads loved their moms the way Christ loved His church? If the husband also loved her soul and wanted her to go to heaven when she passed from this life, would the children also reap great benefits from this love?
You and I know some husbands do not love their wives the way Christ loves the Church. Satan has used his deceptions to replace that love with lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes. He does not want the family complete, as God would have it. Satan wants our families in disarray. What kind of cause and effect does Satan's way have on our country? Looked at the TV lately?
There is one thing I especially want to point out. Go back to the verse, Ephesians 5:25. What stands out in this verse? How about the, Husbands love your wives, part? (Husbands, translated from the Greek word 'aner'. A masculine noun meaning a male) (wives, translated from the Greek word gyne. A feminine noun meaning a woman of any age) By the inspiration from the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul is telling the Ephesian husbands (males) to love their wives (any age female). I believe the inspired scriptures make it clear what a married couple looks like. Not male married to male nor female married to female. Any other views on this must first, cut this scripture out of the Bible.
We have discussed in this post and the previous two, a solution or prescription to get our country back living and obeying God's word. We have talked about loving God, our neighbors, ourselves, and if we are married men, our wives. This is just like the Doctor prescribing me three different medications. I will not get better if I only take one. I can't just love my wife and not love God, nor can I just love myself and not my neighbor. It takes all three combined for this to work.
If I love God with all my heart, soul, and mind, then loving the others should come naturally.
What about you? Do you love God like Christ tells us to love Him? Do you love your neighbors as yourself? Men, if you are married, do you love your wife as much as Christ loves the Church?
Why should we love God and Christ? We love Him, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19, NKJV)
Our country is in the biggest mess I have ever seen in my lifetime. Will our grandchildren inherit an America that has lost its love for God, each other, and the sanctity of marriage? Yes it will if we don't do something. What is that something we need to do? Husbands what do you do if you have not loved your wives and have forsaken them? What do you do if you have hatred in your heart for your fellow man? What if you have lived your life not loving God the way He has commanded? What do you do? You do the same thing those who hated God's Son and murdered Him, by the cruelest execution known to man, did. Repent. Be sorry for not loving the way God wants you to. In Acts chapter 2 they believed that Jesus was the Son of God, whom they had just a few days before crucified. They repented of it and were baptized for the remission of their sins. We read later in that same chapter that God added to the church daily those who were being saved.
We all have sinned and in some ways made a mess of our lives. We can repent of what we have done and do like they did in Acts chapter 2:38 and then in verse 47 they were added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Some of our mistakes we can't go back and correct, but we can start today making a new beginning, working for a better ending. The greatest attribute of God's love is His forgiveness. We don't need to let the Devil deceive us out of receiving ours.
I listened to a sermon the other day by Kenneth Grizzell. He brought to my attention 2 Kings 20:16-19. King Hezekiah was told by Isaiah what God had said to him. He said the days would be coming when all that is in your house and what your fathers have accumulated will be carried to Babylon and nothing would be left. He also said, "And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon". The next verse,19, is the one deserving our attention. King Hezekiah then said to Isaiah, The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good! For he said, Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days? What is he saying? It sounds like to me he is saying, well it won't happen in my days. So he is not going to do anything about it. He seems to not care about the future fate of his sons and grandsons, only relieved at least, it won't happen when I am alive.
I have given some solutions using love, that if applied, will begin to change our nation. All of them, and there are many more, are from God's word. We can sit by and have the attitude as Hezekiah, "At least it won't happen in our lifetime" or we can get back into God's word, on our knees in prayer, seeking and doing what God has said, to bring this country back once again, One Nation Under God, and mean it. If not, what do you think the future holds for our children and grandchildren.
Are you a Joshua saying, But as for me and my house, we will serve the lord or are you a Hezekiah, at least it won't happen while I am alive? One choice requires an active faith and the other requires doing nothing. God always gives us a choice. To do nothing, is to be like Hezekiah.
After reading, please send me your comments. Send them to rhepler52@gmail.com or post comments on facebook.
We can choose to begin a new life with God today and it will give new life and hope to our grandchildren. Thank you for reading this series on love. I do believe love is one of many solutions God has given us to be able to live in this fallen world.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. (John 15:13,NKJV)
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3, NKJV)
Rick
