Husband in Training
I just finished watching a series on Love and Marriage from 722. In it Voddie Baucham delved into the passages of Ephesians 5:25-32 regarding what is required for a man before he can even consider himself to be worthy of being a husband to any Christian woman from a biblical perspective.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:25-32
I never really gave it much thought that marriage was God's idea up until this point or the reason why God instituted it in this particular fashion. But looking at it as a illustration of Christ and the church it makes a hell of a lot of sense. From the sermon and the passage here's what I got about what the man must be character wise.
He MUST be:
A man who Leads in Love. (An act of the will, accompanied by emotion that leads to action on its object) Selfless agape love. Not the romantic eros/cupid love.
A man who leads in the Word. (If he can't mentor you in the scripture, he's not worthy to be your husband)
Leads in righteousness.
Lead in selflessness (Who understands what it means to put others before of himself)
Lead in intimacy
Be transformed in the image of Christ
Persue Christ likeness
To be a husband.
I looked at the statistics for marriages and divorces in Canada from Statistics Canada. On average there were 146,195 marriages and 70,809 divorces over the past 4 years for a whopping success rate of 51.5%. [Sarcastic clapping]. While these numbers don't factor in people who get married and divorced repeatedly, it paints an interesting picture. I'd be even more interested to see what the numbers are for unfulfilled marriages.
I can't help but wonder how many people are spiritually prepared for when they got married? If they really knew what they were getting into on their big day. It's such an enormous undertaking and adventure. And just looking at it from this perspective gives me so much admiration for those who go though and faithfully commit to one another.
I believe every word of this. Make no mistake, my desire is to be an awesome husband if it's in God's plan. To be with that woman that makes me go "WOW! Dang, God was good on that one." But if I want to have a fighting chance, there's no compromise, I must to become that person listed above. My relationship with God has to be solid. And When I compare myself to these requirements, I fall so far below the mark to the point where all I'm left saying is: "I have a lot to work on."
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:25-32
I never really gave it much thought that marriage was God's idea up until this point or the reason why God instituted it in this particular fashion. But looking at it as a illustration of Christ and the church it makes a hell of a lot of sense. From the sermon and the passage here's what I got about what the man must be character wise.
He MUST be:
A man who Leads in Love. (An act of the will, accompanied by emotion that leads to action on its object) Selfless agape love. Not the romantic eros/cupid love.
A man who leads in the Word. (If he can't mentor you in the scripture, he's not worthy to be your husband)
Leads in righteousness.
Lead in selflessness (Who understands what it means to put others before of himself)
Lead in intimacy
Be transformed in the image of Christ
Persue Christ likeness
To be a husband.
I looked at the statistics for marriages and divorces in Canada from Statistics Canada. On average there were 146,195 marriages and 70,809 divorces over the past 4 years for a whopping success rate of 51.5%. [Sarcastic clapping]. While these numbers don't factor in people who get married and divorced repeatedly, it paints an interesting picture. I'd be even more interested to see what the numbers are for unfulfilled marriages.
I can't help but wonder how many people are spiritually prepared for when they got married? If they really knew what they were getting into on their big day. It's such an enormous undertaking and adventure. And just looking at it from this perspective gives me so much admiration for those who go though and faithfully commit to one another.
I believe every word of this. Make no mistake, my desire is to be an awesome husband if it's in God's plan. To be with that woman that makes me go "WOW! Dang, God was good on that one." But if I want to have a fighting chance, there's no compromise, I must to become that person listed above. My relationship with God has to be solid. And When I compare myself to these requirements, I fall so far below the mark to the point where all I'm left saying is: "I have a lot to work on."
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