Recently my fiancé bought a book for us to read together
called, Love and Respect, by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. The entire book is centered around Ephesians 5:33 which says, "Husbands love your wives as you love yourselves and wives submit to your husbands."
Ladies before you role eyes at the word submit let’s look at its meaning within
the text. There is usually a negative connotation related to the word submit.
People tend to think submission means they have to bow down and take any type
of treatment from their significant other but that is not true. If your husband
loves you as his self, and loves you like Christ loves the church (Ephesians
5:25) he will not subject you to intentional physical or emotional abuse. The
New Living Translation of Ephesians 5:33 replaced the word submit with respect,
so it says, “Wives respect your husbands.” The bible instructs wives to show respect and
husbands to love. Sometimes we can be guilty of taking scripture and bending it
to say what we desire for it to say. So some people might read Ephesians 5:33
like this, Husbands love your wives IF they show you respect and wives respect
your husbands IF they show you love. A MAJOR REASON FOR THE 50% DIVORCE RATE IN
AMERICA TODAY IS BECAUSE LOVE IS NOW PLACED WITH CONDITIONS NEXT TO IT. We have
to make the hard choice to love those who are unloving and to respect those who
are disrespectful.
LET ME BE REAL!
I am not a perfect example of this. I will admit to being
disrespectful to my soon to be husband.
I’m not proud of it, but I believe in being transparent and he has
forgiven me. The only person who has given us a perfect example of love without
conditions is Jesus! When Jesus died on the cross for our sins his love for us
was not dependent on our actions. JESUS CHOSE TO LOVE US. We need to make sure our actions are
pleasing to God when dealing with someone. Every day we are faced
with thousands of choices. But one of the biggest choices we make is whether or
not we are going to show Christ love and be respectful. Regardless of our past and our sinful nature
Jesus chose to love us and to die for our sins. He chose to give us hope and an
opportunity to be made into a new creation. No matter where you have been or what you have
done Jesus still wants you and he still loves you! I want to encourage
everybody to choose wisely and to choose love because while we were still
sinners Christ died for us(Romans 5:8). The gospel fills my heart with unexplainable joy
because it gives a dying world hope! No matter where you are in your spiritual
life whether you have a relationship with Christ or not I want to extend an
invitation to you! I want to invite you to let go of your past, and to give
your life to Christ. I want to send out a message of hope that you too can be
redeemed!
Let us pray;
God I don’t know whose heart this will touch but you do! I
thank you so much for the words you have given me to write and I pray that
someone who was about to give up won’t! I pray that they will see their ways
have not been working and that they will try yours. I pray that their hope will
be renewed! I pray that you will speak to them through this message and bless
them to know you love them by choice, and that they don’t have to do anything
to earn your love. Touch those who are
struggling to love people who hurt them and bless them to let go of the pain
they are holding onto. For the people who are ready to accept you into their
lives, bless them to find a supportive church family. In Jesus name we pray,
Amen. 