Is your Marriage a picture of Christ and the church?

Ephesians 5:31-32

I am not a deep thinker and yet on some mornings the Spirit who lives in me gives me a lot to ponder, and today is one of those days.  Are we as husbands being called to be like Christ to our wife?  Our headship over the wife is to be in the same way as Christ is head of the Church, and in the same way as the church (you and I who are in Christ) submit to Christ, the wife should submit to her husband.  We are to love our wives as Christ loved the Church, and that means we are to give ourselves totally to her, as a protector, leader, provider, teacher, and lover, always placing her needs before our wants.  It is clear we are becoming one, and we should love her and care for her as we do for our own body. 

When we Christian men grasp this truth, the divorce rate in the local church will no longer be 40%, and it leads us to verse 31, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  Your marriage is a picture of Christ and the church; when we came into Christ, we became one body with many members, all having different measures of faith, different gifts and different functions, as seen in Romans 12:4-5. 

Marriage is not easy and it sure helps when a couple is dependant on Christ living His life in them and they living in Christ, and living independent of both sets of parents.  In no way am I saying do not honor your parents, that would be sinful, but it is important to leave your parent’s authority.  It is a must to establish a home away from the interference of both parents and all others.  It may be very modest, it may be way below the standards of your parents, but only when you get free of dependence on parents, and begin to look to your Father in Heaven, to meet your needs, it begins to come together.  He knows you, and desires your dependence, and with that dependence on the Father, you are at a starting point of becoming one. 

It is so important that the roles in marriage are not confused by the culture we live in, that we respect the gifts and the different functions of our wife, that we understand she is our completer, not competitor.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice