Let’s review, shall we? The church, as we know, is us – specifically, all Christ-followers make up the church, His Bride. And what did He do for us?
· Jesus gave up everything and served His followers.
· For His followers, He allowed Himself to be humiliated, mocked, beaten, flogged, and eventually killed.
· He forgave His followers that ran away and left him to suffer alone.
· He forgave those who joined in the derision and violence against Him.
· He forgave even those who crucified Him.
I consider myself a relatively good husband by earthly standards (and thankfully, I’ve never had to forgive my bride for flogging me), but by God’s standards I’m not even close! Why does God ask so much of us?
Well, Paul continues the thought in Ephesians 5:26 – 27, so let’s see the entire thought process here, using the NLT version for a little different flavor (Eph 5:25 – 27): “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 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.”
He gave Himself for His Bride to make her “holy and clean”. If I can physically, emotionally, and spiritually ‘give myself up’ for my wife, perhaps I can help her (and myself) become a glorious gift to our Groom and Kinsman-Redeemer (Christ).
Ephesians also says Jesus ‘cleansed’ His Bride with God’s Word. Okay, so as a husband and the spiritual leader of my home, maybe I need to make sure God’s Word is being read, discussed, and lived. That doesn’t sound so scary…
…well, still kind of scary, but who says fear has to be a bad thing?