Transformed – teen devotion – February 24, 2019
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Ephesians 5:24-25
Love and Marriage
Is marriage a good or bad thing? More important is that it be a God thing. In the beginning of the world, God instituted marriage to be a safe place for husbands and wives to enjoy each other intimately and to provide a healthy and secure environment for children to grow up and be loved.
The further we get from Creation, the easier it is to forget God’s good design. The apostle Paul reminds us of that design in the book of Ephesians and uses God’s love for his church to describe it.
Wives are to submit—to put themselves under the authority and guidance of their husbands just like the church puts itself under the authority and guidance of Jesus. Husbands are to love their wives sacrificially, just like Jesus did when he died on the cross for his church.
Let’s be clear: it would be absolutely incorrect to say this passage makes husbands more important and wives merely side-kicks in marriage. If that’s what you’re thinking, repent of it!
“The Lord God said, it was NOT good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). It was essential that a woman be brought to Adam to be a part of his life. She would be someone that he could love and protect from his position as husband.
Maybe this illustration will help: Picture ballroom dancers. The man leads. The woman follows. But they both need each other for it to be a dance. He gives strength and direction. She provides grace and beauty. The beautiful dance doesn’t stay beautiful. You’ll step on each other’s toes and fall many times—sometimes hard and it will hurt—but in Christ there is forgiveness as we strive to sacrifice and submit.
What a breathtakingly beautiful image of the interdependent dance God intends between a husband and wife! It’s loving and leading. It’s being loved and protected—just as Christ loved and led us by humbly submitting himself to death on a cross. He gave it all for his bride, the Church, of which you and I are a part. To be loved, protected, and guided … it makes us so happy! Our dependence on Christ not only makes possible, but BEAUTIFUL, the interdependence of husbands and wives. What love! What beauty! Christ makes marriage a beautiful thing!
Prayer: Jesus, marriage is a good thing because it’s a God thing. If it’s your will to give me a spouse one day, help me to be the best husband or wife that I can possibly be! Amen.
