June 18 - Ephesians 5:25-26 (B)

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.

Ephesians 5:25-26

^NLT

 

For my son Robbie, automobiles are works of art.

 

I love the beautiful lines of many cars too … but I don’t choose to afford automotive art. I tend to settle for affordable and functional.

 

“Art” vs. “Function” explains how Robbie and I treat our cars. He washes his weekly. I mostly let the rain occasionally wash my functional old machine.

 

Husbands, is your bride a work of art … or a functional, old machine?

 

You are called to wash her. You are called to make her clean, to help her be holy. You are to treat her as a work of art.

 

Our model for this is Christ.

 

How did Jesus make the church holy? By “wash[ing her] by the cleansing of the Word.”

 

If we’re going to apply this washing to our marriage, we need to understand how the Word of God cleanses the church.

 

Sin tarnishes us. The world stains us. Anger is grease. Busyness is grim. Pride is pollution.

The Word of God, however, is truth and light. It is healing and hope. The Word of God cleanses our priorities. It launders our consciences. It bathes our bitterness. Most of all, the words of Scripture are a bridge to God … because it is God himself who washes us.

 

Husbands, you are called to treat your beloved as a work of art (not as a functional, old machine).

Instead of waiting passively for an occasional sprinkling, you are called to intentionally wash, bless, and encourage her. And we provide this blessing most fully by intentionally connecting our family to the refreshment of God’s truth, light, and joy.

 

Question: Do you tend to treat your spouse as a work of art or a functional machine? Do you wash them, encourage them, and bless them intentionally or passively?

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy with a dusty car

but a cleansed marriage