Day 4: Love That Costs Everything
Reading: Ephesians 5:25-30
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body.
Footnotes
[a] Ephesians 5:26 Or having cleansed
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Devotional:
The standard Paul sets before husbands is not comfort or convenience. It is the cross. Christ loved the church by giving up everything He had, pouring Himself out completely so that His people could be made holy and clean. This is the model for sacrificial love in marriage and in the broader body of Christ. Loving others well will cost you something. It will require setting aside your preferences, your agenda, and your desire for recognition. Ask yourself today where self-centered behavior has quietly taken the place of sacrificial love, and invite Christ to replace it with something better.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body.
Footnotes
[a] Ephesians 5:26 Or having cleansed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Devotional:
The standard Paul sets before husbands is not comfort or convenience. It is the cross. Christ loved the church by giving up everything He had, pouring Himself out completely so that His people could be made holy and clean. This is the model for sacrificial love in marriage and in the broader body of Christ. Loving others well will cost you something. It will require setting aside your preferences, your agenda, and your desire for recognition. Ask yourself today where self-centered behavior has quietly taken the place of sacrificial love, and invite Christ to replace it with something better.
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I pray God opens my eyes, my ears, and my heart to discern when and how how to sacrificially love others. My selfish inner voice is often louder than God’s and I know I miss many opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus because or my own selfishness. Less of me and more of you ❤️? The song “Nothing Else” sung by Cody Carnes comes to mind.
I’m thinking about a common response that I hear when I ask people how they’re doing. When we go beyond the knee-jerk “I’m fine” response, the most common answer that I hear is either, I’m too busy or I’m extremely tired or both. Quite often it is for these reasons that we aren’t spending quality time with the Lord. Yet, this is the very thing that we need most. It’s like complaining of severe hunger but refusing to stop and eat. Perhaps it’s not that we’re too busy or too tired after all? What if these are actually the simptoms of being malnourished? Try prioritizing God and watch how he enables you to do more and feel better. Yes, I’ve had to learn this lesson more than once! Yes, I’m still working this out too, but He is faithful through it all!
What stood out to me today from the reading was nothing new or super profound but actually very simple. Loving the way Jesus loves requires sacrifice, it requires me to lay down what I may want for the betterment and service of others. I also had the thought when Paul is saying that when love the way Jesus loves we are as a byproduct loving ourselves that it goes back to the theme of unity. If we are loving and taking care of one part of the body we are taking care of the body as a whole.