It is human nature to be selfish. From the moment toddlers learn how to say, "mine," even into adulthood, our natural tendency is to look out for ourselves. Our thoughts and actions are often centered on what we want and need. This is not the way of Christ. In a world where most people look out for themselves and their own interests, Jesus taught something else: service. Instead of living for ourselves and our needs, we are to go out of our way to serve and help others, even when it costs us. For those who are married, this begins with your spouse.
The apostle Paul wrote about our call to a lifestyle of service in Ephesians 5. In this chapter, he provided instructions for followers of Christ on how to live. He wrote in this passage of Scripture, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (verse 21). Out of reverence, or respect, for Christ, we followers of Christ are to submit to each other, looking for ways to serve and love each other. Next, Paul explained what this lifestyle looks like in the context of marriage. He wrote, "For wives, this means to submit to your husbands as to the Lord…For husbands, this means love your wives, just as God loved the church. He gave up His life for her” (verses 22-25). This is a weighty command for followers of Christ. Whether single or married, we are called to live our lives seeking ways to serve those around us, because every person we interact with is valuable and important to Christ. For those who are married, you have the distinct honor of representing the love of Christ by the way you serve each other. Wives, that means submitting to your husband, laying aside your own needs and desires for the needs and desires of your husband. Husbands, this means sacrificing to take care of and show your love for your wife, even if that means laying down your own life. What a powerful picture of the Gospel this way of living displays!
Will you commit to living a lifestyle of service? This way of living does not come naturally. It is entirely contradictory to the way the world lives. It is, however, the way of Christ. How can you serve today?
Commit today to start serving the people around you. If you are married, find one way to serve your spouse today. For those who are single, think of one person God has placed in your life, whether a friend, neighbor, or family member, whom you can serve and find a way to serve them today. Let's commit to serving everyone around us. After all, Christ Himself lived a life characterized by service, so we, His followers, must follow in His footsteps.
1Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
6 Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. 7 Don’t participate in the things these people do. 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,
“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”
Living by the Spirit’s Power
15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. 18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Spirit-Guided Relationships: Wives and Husbands
21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.
25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body.
31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
