SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/27/2019 10:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“Caring Love”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:28-30
Message of the verses: “28 So husbands
ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own
wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and
cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are
members of His body.”
We
have learned that the church is called the “body of Jesus Christ,” and as we
look at these verses we see that the husband should love his own wife as he
loves his body. Some men may not believe
that they love their own body, but think about how much time you spend caring
for your body and you will see that you actually do love your own body. We as husbands are to care for our wife to
the extent as we would for our wife’s welfare as we do for our own body.
I
suppose that in our generation that both men and women care more for their
bodies than ever before. Vitamins,
exercise, clothing and many other things seem to be more important today than ever
before. The amount of money spent on
personal needs for our bodies is many times over what was spent in centuries
before us.
As
Christians we know that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit thus we
should take proper care of our bodies as we give them the right food,
maintaining reasonable strength, getting enough rest, and other things we won’t
take the time to mention. “When we have
a healthy body we have a sense of well-being; and when a husband meets the
needs of his wife—with the same care and concern with which he meets the needs
of his body—he will also have a sense of well-being and pleasure as a by-product
of his love.”
“The
husband who loves his wife as Christ loves the church will no more do anything
to harm her than he would to harm his own flesh. His desire to nourish and cherish her just as
he nourishes and cherishes his own body—because that is how Christ also does
the church” (MacArthur Commentary on Ephesians).
When
a husband looks at his wife as a cook, housekeeper, occasional companion, and
sex partner he is not loving her as Christ loves the church. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19 that God
supplies “all [our] needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” and
so we are to do this for our wives. Now
again I want to mention that Paul, in this section of Ephesians beginning with
5:18 is talking about things to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit as He
fills our lives to accomplish the things He desires us to do and for husbands
it is to love their wife as Christ loves the church.
One
of the things that the husband is to do is to nourish a wife and provide for
her needs and to give that which helps her grow and mature in favor with God
and man. Now to cherish her is to use
tender love and physical affection to give her warmth, comfort, protection and
also security, as women truly love to know that they are safe.
John
MacArthur concludes: “Christ provides
for us as His church because we are members of His body. Not to provide for His church would be not to
provide for Himself. He shares common
life with His church, and we are members of His body, His flesh and bones, His
present incarnation on earth. Paul said,
‘The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him’ ((1 Cor. 6:17),
and again, ‘I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me’ (Gal.
2:20).
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I once again am learning the importance of
being filled with the Holy Spirit in order for me to love my wife as Christ
loves His Church.
My Steps of Faith for Today: From the beginning of this year up until now
and beyond I am learning about humility and the biggest thing that I have
learned about it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that I will be humble.
Today’s quotation from “Love in Action”
“You
have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate
your
enemy.’ But I say to you, love your
enemies, bless those who
Curse
you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those
Who spitefully
use you and persecute you.
Matthew 5:43-44
8/27/2019 11:06 AM
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