So in the past few days I've been meditating on the love of my Savior. I was thinking on it in the context of Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
I think because my own experience with marriage has been less than ideal, my understanding of the depth of what these verses hold has been very jaded. Until a few days ago, that is. I started to realize, as with all things in the Word, that what these verses say are true.
Christ is the head of the church; He is the savior of the body. Christ is my head. He is leading me and guiding me. There are many times when I think I know better than He does, but He continues to lead me and guide me anyway. He patiently waits for me to see how much He knows me and understands me and how much His heart is for me. He's looking out for His calling and fulfilling His purpose and destiny as well as my own. As I learn to submit to Him, He's able to be all that He is intended to be for me. Selah. And again... selah. Whoa. Selah. Let me try to wrap my brain around that... selah. I am subject to Christ. I put my full trust in Him. I choose to allow Him to lead even though, at times, I don't agree with what He's doing or where He's leading- or understand it. And I've been contemplating why it's safe to do that. Why is it a problem for me to look out for my own best interest and try to save myself and protect myself? Because that's Jesus's job. The scripture here says it plain as day: He loves me and nurtures me and cherishes me. He gave Himself to save me. To present me to HIMSELF as a pure, spotless, blemish free bride, holy, without wrinkles.
There is a depth of passion that I feel that perhaps I am not conveying well. But take a moment and meditate on these verses. Jesus is wanting to reveal how much His heart is intertwined with ours. The same love that allowed Him to go of His own free will to the cross, is nurturing us and cherishing us second by second, minute by minute, day by day, week by week, year by year.
And why is He doing that? So He can have someone, a bride, that He can partner with in His glory and in ruling and reigning with Him. He wants someone who has learned to trust Him and subject themselves to Him. It's not a sadistic subjection. Jesus isn't like that. He wants us to trust that His way is the best and that He has our best interest at heart. He doesn't hate himself, He doesn't hate us either. He just wants us to be so one and in unison with Him. He wants to prepare us for the coming of His kingdom and for the coming of His glory so that we can be one with Him in it. He only cares about our hearts and making us His. Even aside from being able to rule and reign with Him, He just wants someone, a bride, that is solely His. That He can share His heart with. Someone that He can safely trust. I posted a blog a while back about Proverbs 31 representing how the bride of Christ should be. Here is another piece of that puzzle.
I will be honest and say that I am having to really let this truth sink in deep. I have never experienced this in the natural realm, quite the opposite in fact, and as much as I wouldl ike to think it doesn't cloud my thinking and understanding, it most certainly does. Jesus, help me to know your truth of how much you love me and cherish me and how much your heart is for me. I pray that for all of us, Lord, that we would know the depth of Your amazing love and how much You long for us and desire us to be with You and to be one with You.
