Valentines Day is a coming. What are you going to do to show your spouse, your significant other, your love for them? What will be the token of your love? Will it be jewelry, candy, flowers, a quiet dinner out, or some personal item? Of course it will have to include the appropriate card. But is any gift, token, or event really adequate to express love?
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propiation for our sins. (I John 4:10) Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:3) Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1-2)
How has God expressed His love for us? By giving us His Son, His beloved Son, as the sacrifice for our sins. How has Christ expressed His love for us? By the offering and sacrifice of Himself to God for our sins.
Wives be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:22,24) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25)
The context of this section of Scripture is walking in love as Paul is following up the command and example in Ephesians 5:1-2 with how walking in love looks in a Christian's life. So the question is, "What are we sacrificing, what are we giving up of ourselves, for our spouses?" Wives love their husbands by taking the initiative in submitting to them. Husbands love their wives by giving up themselves for them (notice the phrase gave Himself up in vs 5:25 is the same as in vs 5:2) It is in the sacrifice of ourselves that love is most profoundly and most vividly expressed. And the good thing about this is we can do it every day without waiting for an appointed time. And just as Christ's sacrifice was a fragrant aroma, so our sacrifice of ourselves becomes a fragrant aroma, not only to our Lord, but also to our spouse. If we make this the habit of our life (walking in love), then we will create an aroma of love that will pervade our homes and our relationship with our spouse. It will be a potpourri in our relationship that will never have to be replenished, and others will be able to smell its bouquet.
How do we do this? Glad you asked. We most effectively do this by being patient, kind, not being jealous, not bragging or being arrogant, not acting unbecomingly, not seeking our own (not being selfish or self-seeking), not being provoked, not taking into account a wrong suffered, not rejoicing in unrighteousness, but rejoicing with the truth; by bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, and enduring all things. (I Corinthians 13:4-7) Notice the giving of self, the self-sacrifice, that is involved in living out (walking in) love. This is the best way to love your spouse; and when we walk in love, then every day is a day of love, and Valentines Day becomes the cherry on top.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propiation for our sins. (I John 4:10) Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:3) Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1-2)
How has God expressed His love for us? By giving us His Son, His beloved Son, as the sacrifice for our sins. How has Christ expressed His love for us? By the offering and sacrifice of Himself to God for our sins.
Wives be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:22,24) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25)
The context of this section of Scripture is walking in love as Paul is following up the command and example in Ephesians 5:1-2 with how walking in love looks in a Christian's life. So the question is, "What are we sacrificing, what are we giving up of ourselves, for our spouses?" Wives love their husbands by taking the initiative in submitting to them. Husbands love their wives by giving up themselves for them (notice the phrase gave Himself up in vs 5:25 is the same as in vs 5:2) It is in the sacrifice of ourselves that love is most profoundly and most vividly expressed. And the good thing about this is we can do it every day without waiting for an appointed time. And just as Christ's sacrifice was a fragrant aroma, so our sacrifice of ourselves becomes a fragrant aroma, not only to our Lord, but also to our spouse. If we make this the habit of our life (walking in love), then we will create an aroma of love that will pervade our homes and our relationship with our spouse. It will be a potpourri in our relationship that will never have to be replenished, and others will be able to smell its bouquet.
How do we do this? Glad you asked. We most effectively do this by being patient, kind, not being jealous, not bragging or being arrogant, not acting unbecomingly, not seeking our own (not being selfish or self-seeking), not being provoked, not taking into account a wrong suffered, not rejoicing in unrighteousness, but rejoicing with the truth; by bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, and enduring all things. (I Corinthians 13:4-7) Notice the giving of self, the self-sacrifice, that is involved in living out (walking in) love. This is the best way to love your spouse; and when we walk in love, then every day is a day of love, and Valentines Day becomes the cherry on top.
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