I used to be quite the Bible scoffer.
Yes, you read that right. Bible scoffer. Not Bible beater or Bible reader– Bible Scoffer.
When I first started legitimately walking with Christ as an adult, I can remember ever-so-vividly scoffing, yes, audibly– out loud with a deep raspy throat sound– about any verses that dealt with husband-wife submission and sacrifice. I can go to the bookshelf right now and show you the exact page where I wrote in my journal 1 Peter 3:1 about “wives, submit to your husband.” It was day two of Brandon and I doing bible study together in our relationship. My words were full of ME, not him.
No way was I EVER going to submit or sacrifice MY life for a man. After all– it was MY life.
Turns out– it wasn’t my life. It was Jesus’ life He let me have.
And because of that, I want to honor Him. One of the ways I can do that is submitting and loving my spouse as I cultivate a heart of sacrifice.
Thus brings us to week #2 in our “Building a Christ-Like Marriage.” Today is all about living with a heart of sacrifice and service.
Photo via Jo Christian Oterhal @ Flickr
First of all, let’s pop over to Ephesians 5 and do a little contextual reading. (Rumor has it reading things in context seriously helps…)
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. … 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…”
So often when people get all riled up about the whole wives submitting to husband dealio, they take it out of context. But there are some MAJOR contextual points to note here.
1. Notice the very first verse out of the gate here– it says submit to ONE ANOTHER… out of reverence for Christ. When we submit, serve and sacrifice for our spouse, we are doing it ultimately for Jesus.
2. This isn’t just one-sided. Both the husband and the wife have responsibilities here. Scripture does not say “Wives submit to your husbands by kissing his feet and feeding him bon bons with a cold can of beer because he is, after all, the man of the house.” Uh, negative. We as wives are to submit to our husband, coming under his leadership because he is under the Lord’s leadership, just as the church did to Christ.
3. And husbands? Yeah, they have to hold up their end of the bargain too. They essentially GIVE UP THEIR LIVES just like Christ did for the church. Remember that whole bit about dying for the Church? Yep. Husbands are called to sacrifice themselves too.
So that being said, to build a Christ-like marriage we must take on the heart of Christ– to love, to serve, to sacrifice. Early on in our marriage, I adopted this saying: “It isn’t really a sacrifice if it glorifies God and makes you both more holy.”
And friends, that is what marriage is… Marriage is not supposed to make us happy but to make us holy.
My husband and I sacrifice for one another on a daily basis. We aren’t perfect at it, but we are growing. He gives up part of his precious free time on Saturday so I can run, work and do ministry baby-free. I have sacrificed my plans of where I want to live and given up the luxury of having baby’s grandparents within driving distance to support Barn’s army career.
He digs deep to sacrifice and meet my emotional needs. I dig deep to meet his physical needs.
Sacrifice is everywhere in marriage. If we sacrifice with a heart of Christ, we don’t have to worry much about the seeds of bitterness, resentment or discontent that Satan with often try to plan within our hearts.
Friends, where in your marriage (or the marriages around you) do you see sacrifice? Can you sacrifice more? What does living with a heart of sacrifice for Christ look like for you? I welcome your comments. Leave one below.
Remember– when we sacrifice for our marriage, we are really bringing glory to the One who sacrificed it all for us…
In that light, we really aren’t sacrificing much… After all, we are simply cultivating a heart like Jesus.
And that makes it so very worth it.
Sacrificing for The One,
“Each one of you also must love his wifeas he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” ~Ephesians 5:33
Linking up today with Kelly via Hear it Sunday~Use it Monday, Laura at Playdates with God, Joan’s Beauty in His Grip, and Inspire me Monday. Oh! And be sure to join our #EverydayJesus link-up community right here at 7 Days Time every Thursday!
