There are things in this world that are so delightful that there are no words that can appropriately express them.
I have watched as my lovely wife has been transformed into an image of beauty in the Lord from one who, while she may not have outright despised Him, she saw no need in her life for His interference. Her ability to live peaceably with me is a testimony of her love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you were ever to spend any time with me, you would fully understand those words.
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” (Eph. 5:25)
I love my wife as I have never loved another, and that is because the love of Christ resides within me, she is a daughter of the Most High God first and my wife second, and I always try to remember that.
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” (Eph. 5:22)
I expect this from her, no less than she expects me to love her, but there is an addendum, if you will, to her submission to me that is not found in the commandment to husbands. If I am not in the will of God, if for whatever reason I step off the path, she is not to submit to my will in those moments. In fact, as my helpmeet, she is, in love, to correct me, and if necessary, reprove those actions. For if I continue in them, as the head of the household under the Lord Jesus Christ, chastisement will come upon this house.
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” (Heb. 12:11)
This is not a fine line that you can ride as a husband my brothers in Christ, you are either following Christ or you are not, and if you are not, He will remind you of your responsibilities to His daughter.
“Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” (1st Peter 3:7)
There is no such thing as the “man of the house” outside of a God-fearing, Christ-centered marriage, it should take little research into seeing the way the world is going in regard to that word “marriage.” The opposite of that weaker vessel, one we could call the stronger vessel, is not determined by who brings in the larger paycheck, it is not who is physically stronger or more what we could call mentally competent, it is the man of God who is willing to accept full responsibility for everything that happens in that home, for it is him whom the Lord will require an account of for that family.
My beautiful wife’s responsibility, in part, is to keep me in line, to notice when I am not behaving as one worthy of that marriage, by telling me my faults. Then I am responsible not to attempt to coerce her into the reasons for my actions, but to employ James 5:16.
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
I am a driven man, consumed in what the Almighty has called me to do, but if I forget, or become callous towards His daughter, He will chastise me, and rightly so. If my helpmeet, my wife for eternity does not speak up when those times come upon me, I also will be held responsible.
The world can never understand the depths of these truths, self consumes them, not Christ. At best their spouse may, but without being born-again, whatever love they profess to have for each other, no matter how deeply they feel it, will die when they die.
Psalm 16:11 tells us there are pleasures forevermore awaiting us, and I believe that many misinterpret Matthew 22:30 in the regard of a Christ-centered marriage. “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”
To look at my loving wife throughout all eternity as nothing more than another sister in Christ is not possible for me, and my Father understands that fully.
“Till death do us part” is only temporary for those who serve Christ and each other.
