May 29 Wives Submit

Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
 
WIVES, see how your marital relationship begins with Jesus. Remember how Paul has written “Be imitators of God, as beloved children.” (Ephesians 5:1). How sweet it should be in our hearts to say, “I don’t need to believe in the world’s ways of marriage. I get to know God’s ways! I get to let go of myself and live into God.”
    But those words seem far-fetched, for most of us, doesn’t it? Several truths of mankind’s relationship with God keep you wives from that kind of joyful, submissive relationship with God and with your husbands. First, there is the overwhelming sin issue. When Eve sinned, God told her in Genesis 3:16 “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” This desire is not sexual or relational, but it is a desire to rule over the husband. Sin’s curse broke the God-given harmonic order “bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23) between husband and wife. Born into Adam’s and Eve’s sin, all women have inherited a desire to rule over the man. The result is constant discord in marriages.
    A second barrier to a wife’s submission extends to her unwillingness in the sin nature to submit to the Lord. As we consider the principles under which we live, we will first consider our own desires. Then, if we have any knowledge of God, we will look at God’s instructions. Then we too often decide, “I prefer my way.” Discord increases.
    The deepest discord comes in a marriage when a husband refuses to submit to God. How can a wife follow a the one appointed to be the Family Shepherd when he will not follow the Good Shepherd? If your husband is that way, pray this simple prayer from Colossians 1:19 “Lord, I pray you will fill my husband with the knowledge of your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
    Someone once told me that as she was experiencing challenges in her marriage a number of years ago, she prayed, “Lord, give my husband a new wife, and let that be me.” She recognized she could not change her husband. But she realized she could change the way she responded to God’s commands. Transformation began in the marriage when she said, “I submit to the Lord.” The marriage is blossoming and bearing fruit for God’s Kingdom today.
    Many times, ladies, transformed marriages begin with the Spirit’s transformation on your heart. Testimony after testimony of saved, joyful marriages come from women who decided, “I need to change.”
    Yes, pray for God’s knowledge and wisdom. Pray to Jesus you will submit to him. Pray to the Holy Spirit you will please him. Pray to the Father you will submit to his created order. Pray with thanksgiving you know what submission looks like as you see how the Father, Son and Spirit submit to one another for God’s Kingdom come to earth. A pathway to salvation begins with submission.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for your great love. Thank you for modeling true submission. May the Holy God be my example on how to live well in our marriages. In Jesus’ name, amen.