SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/31/2019 9:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “The Motive
For Loving Your Wife”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:32-33
Message of the verses: “32 This mystery is
great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33
Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as
himself, and the wife must
see to it that she respects her husband.”
We
have already seen that Paul has pointed out in verses 23-29 that marriage is a
picture of the church and its relationship to Christ. John MacArthur writes about “This mystery” “this
magnificent picture that men could never discover and that was unknown to the
saints of the Old Covenant but not revealed—‘is great.’ God’s new people, ‘the church’ are brought
into His kingdom and His family through faith in ‘Christ.’ He is the Bridegroom and they are His bride
(Rev. 21:9). A husband’s greatest motive
for loving, purifying, protecting, and caring for his wife is Christ’s love,
purifying, protecting, and caring for His own bride, the church. Christian marriage is to be loving, holy,
pure, self-sacrificing, and mutually submissive because those virtues
characterize the relationship of ‘Christ and the church.’”
We
are learning that the sacred relationship between Christian husbands and their
wives is interrelated to the sacred relationship between Christ and to His
church. Now because of this great blessedness
to which Paul has said, “Nevertheless let each individual among you also love
his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her
husband.” MacArthur writes “The use of
‘nevertheless’ (plen) is intended to
end the discussion and emphasize what in it is most essential to remember.
“When
Christian husbands and wives walk in the power of the Spirit, yield to His Word
and His control, and are mutually submissive, they are brought much honor.”
So
we have come to the end of chapter five which we began on the 18th
of May of this year which I can hardly believe that it took so long, but there
have been many things that we have learned from this chapter. I have mentioned that the chapter divisions
in the Bible are not something that are inspired by God, but were done by men
to help us better understand the Word of God.
There are some chapter divisions that in my opinion could have been done
in a better way like the division between Isaiah chapters 52-53, and also in this
chapter division between Ephesians 5 and 6, for as we begin chapter six we are
still talking about relationships like parents and their children and also
workers and who they work for, so we will still be looking at relationships as
we begin chapter six, and that means that we are still talking about being
filled with the Holy Spirit in order to make sure that these relationships will
bring glory to our Lord. Healthy
relationships mean healthy countries and the family is the basic of how
countries run.
Today’s quotation from Love in Action:
Preach
the Word! Be ready in season and out of
season
Convince,
rebuke, exhort, [encourage],
with all
longsuffering and teaching.
II
Timothy 4:12
8/31/2019 11:21 AM
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