May 14, 2025

Ephesians 5:22-33 (HCSB)
Wives and Husbands
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, 23 for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.
27 He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. 28 In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of His body.
31 For this reason a man will leave
his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two will become one flesh.
32 This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

Ron and Lisa Estes
These first few verses may send up a red flag for us ladies. But further reading shows us how to love our husbands well. As a strongly opinionated woman myself, (I hear those amens) the word ‘submit’ is not in my top ten list of favorite words. But learning to submit is necessary in marriage and the life of the believer. Submitting to our husband as we submit to the Lord is a sign of humility, respect, trust and love. As wives submit to the leadership of the husband, we can receive protection, guidance and stability. These same qualities are found in how Christ loves and guides His church. The world would have us believe that submission is a bad thing, but done within the right perimeters, it can and should bring a sense of peace.
Husbands, we have been instructed to love our wives. That sounds easy, but is it really? When I first fell in love with Lisa, I wanted to be with her and talk to her all the time. We shared our thoughts and dreams of the future together. But Christian husbands are called to do much more than this. I am told to love my wife like Jesus loves me. I must be willing to surrender my life and my comfort to provide and protect her. At all times, her needs should be more important than mine. I am to be selfless as Christ was selfless and gave Himself for me. Husbands, to love our wives is not only our duty but also our privilege. God has blessed us with wives to love. Now get to it!