What's Love Got To Do With It?

I can be so stubborn sometimes as my husband would be the first to point out. After 15, yes, 15 years of marriage, I finally realized a valuable truth about loving my husband. Are you ready for this? Here goes!

I am commanded to love my husband.

 

Sounds simple, right? Wrong! God wants me to love this man that He has given to me whether I believe he deserves my love or not. So often in my marriage, I have been guilty of holding back because I don't feel loved or secure or valued. Love between a husband and his wife is supposed to mirror the love God has for us. More often than not, it is distorted and ugly, not at all what the Lord desires for us. To make matters worse, this is what we are demonstrating for our children, to place conditions on love.

 

Where would I be if God loved me that way? I would be dying in my sins to be forever separated from Him for all of eternity. The Lord and everyone around me knows that is what I deserve, not the lavish love He bestows on me moment by moment. So, why do I find it so hard to love my husband the way that God loves me?

 

It boils down to how I love God. I am commanded to love God with all of my heart, soul, and mind. If I am loving God the way that I should, I will be able to love my husband no matter what. (Afterall, he is God's gift to me). What does that love look like? It is caring for him when he is sick as well or better than I care for our children when they are sick. It is giving him an impromptu massage. It is dropping whatever I am doing when he walks in the house at the end of a long day just to give him a kiss and tell him how much I love and appreciate him. It is praying for him like my life depends on it. It is forgiving me before he asks for my forgiveness. It is admitting when I am wrong and not telling him when he is. It is reverencing him in front of our children and the rest of the world. It is allowing him to lead as the Lord leads him. It is listening to him. It is making time for him when I have not gotten to everything on my to do list. It is putting him before myself and our children. You get the picture! It is so much more but that is a start.

 

I am going to fail as I often do but at least I see that loving John will come much easier if I love him the way Christ loves me. Unconditionally!

 

I hope this helps other wives to love their husbands better. Titus 2:4 says, "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children." Let us learn to love our husbands better so that they can be the men of God that He wants them to be.