JESUS AND THE CHURCH  -  HUSBANDS AND THEIR WIVES.

JESUS AND THE CHURCH  -  HUSBANDS AND THEIR WIVES.

JESUS AND THE CHURCH  -  HUSBANDS AND THEIR WIVES.

The Bible makes this analogy...that IN THE SAME WAY CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH AND WAS WILLING TO LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HER... so ought husbands to love their wives.   I think the key word is that Jesus was WILLING to lay down his life for the church.. and that's why He did it.  If he hadn't been willing to do it... then it would not have been done. And if Jesus wasn't willing.....then we would have died.  Why was He willing?  He loved us.  We were worth MORE to Him than His own life.  Having us was worth losing Him - to Him. 

What kind of LOVE is this?   Amazing love.  And it's the STANDARD of the kind of love a husband MUST have for his wife.   If he doesn't have it...then he won't be willing to lay down his own life for her.  Jesus is not the church's puppet - doing whatever the church tells Him - and yet He has the kind of love for us that assures us that OUR needs are His FIRST concern.  We needed him to die and be resurrected for us - and He did.  The REAL Body of Christ - the REAL church - is so LOVED by Jesus.. so protected by Jesus... that the REAL church (as opposed to people who simply go to church on Sunday) wants to do whatever it can to please Jesus.  Jesus is LORD. 

And so this is the mystery... One half of the relationship LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE for the other half of the relationship  - and the OTHER half, in response to this amazing love cannot do enough to please Him.   This requires faith on the part of men.   As a woman, I know that I must have faith in God - not my husband - in order to submit to him.  I must believe that however my husband treats me (good or bad) I must trust that God sees it all. 

And for a man it takes great faith also to believe that IF HE WILL SIMPLY OBEY GOD - . that He will live a life of freedom....by doing what he should do with regard to the wife God has given him.  I guess most men just don't have enough faith in God to trust Him in this area.   Maybe a man thinks "If I lay down my life for her, she will walk all over me."  A woman feels the same way about submission - "If I submit to him, he will walk all over me." But just the opposite is true.    A godly woman will not be able to find enough ways to honor a husband who is obedient to God... and a godly husband must have enough faith in God to believe that loving his wife more than his own body will be the best thing for .... him!!!

I know lots of married men - Christian men - who aren't willing to be what they are supposed to be.  Lots of times they won't admit it to themselves.  They hear it, but they don't do it. They aren't even WILLING to love their wives as Christ loved the church. They  aren't willing to obey. They NEVER consider their role in the marriage.  NEVER. 

They want what they want when they want it - and God help the wife who gets in the way.   God help the wife who craves spiritual leadership from an unspiritual man.  God help the woman who desires fellowship with a man who resents her.   God help the woman who is afraid and has a husband who doesn't protect her. God help the woman who wants some of her husband's time.  God help the woman who wants to be the kind of wife she is supposed to be who is married to a man who doesn't care about what kind of husband he is required to be.  And God DOES help her. 

I know lots of men who go to church but aren't at all like Christ in their relationship with their wives.  I often wonder why there aren't brothers around them - or pastors - who instruct these men.  Why isn't somebody reminding these men that loving their wives is the best thing  they can do for themselves.....as well as their wives.    Broken hearted women sit in silence in the  pew.  These men are married on the outside but single on the inside. GOD HELP THE MAN WHO HAS TO STAND BEFORE A HOLY GOD SOMEDAY AND EXPLAIN TO HIM WHY HE MISTREATED GOD'S OWN DAUGHTER.  

IS THERE ANYTHING WORSE THAN A "CATTY" FRIEND? Yes!  An envious one!  No, wait! - a self-centered one!  NO... NO...wait!  A gossiping one who tells all the secrets you told her and she promised NOT to tell a SOUL.  A good friend is a gift from God.  I know it's sounds schmaltzy but it's true.

Today... I want to thank GOD for the GIFT He's given me by the GIRLFRIENDS who surround my life.   "Thank you God for Lori, Carol, Ruth, Rebecca, Wendy, Debi, Angie, Darci, Joyce, and my young friends Kara (who 'gets me' like she's clairvoyant or somethun) and Lindsey" (who said something to me last week that took my breath away. She said, 'You always see the silver lining.  You never see the cloud') Of course, that isn't true. Just ask anyone who lives with me every day.. but.. still nice to hear."  

So if you have a true friend....be thankful for her.  Be thankful today.

It never occurred to my parents to stay home from church on Sunday.   I don't remember a Sunday that I wasn't in a Sunday School class and then church service. I don't remember a Sunday that we went to an amusement park instead of going to church.  Sundays were set aside as a day that everything stopped and the family worshipped God and rested.  My dad was a pastor, but he became a pastor when I was 11 years old.  Before that, we were STILL in church all the time. 

I'm sure that there were things about church that bugged my parents, but I never heard them say so.   We got up, got dressed and went.  And we fellowshipped with God's people.  And we heard God's Word being preached, and worship being offered up to God.  And even as a young child, I knew God was real because I could sense that there was a Presence that came when these people gathered together.   And we came home and ate macaroni....took a nap........and went back to church on Sunday night.   

It never occurred to me until today that I'm glad that it never occurred to my parents to stay home from church on Sunday