Scripture to Read: Colossians 3:19
The marriage relationship will suffer if the husband is not a strong follower of Christ and His Word. God had Paul write this of the husband in Colossians 3:19, “Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.” When God commands husbands to love their wives and not to be “embittered against them,” God is reminding all husbands of the huge responsibility they have to be like Christ in the way Christ loves His church. God had Paul write it this way in Ephesians 5:25–29, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body.” Husbands must love their wives in the exact same way Christ loves His church. God defines what this love looks like in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8. For any husband to love his wife this way, the husband must be fully submitted to Christ in every area of his life, every day of his life. There is no room for compromise.
Challenge & Application
When we compare the definition of love based on the world’s standard compared to God’s, what differences do we see?
What is the only way a husband can love his wife in the way God has commanded in His Word?
Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!