As Christ Loved the Church

I began my daily Bible study this morning where I had left off yesterday, toward the end of Ephesians chapter five.  Beginning with verse twenty-five I read:



“Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it.” (God’s Word ©)



And with that, I had to pause and meditate on that verse while I was flooded with what seemed like gallons of memories pouring into my mind.  That verse was probably the key verse that I sort of automatically shifted into when I realized that Piper could no longer be alone at home anymore and would begin to require personal attention around the clock.  That was back in 2010 and I never thought twice or looked back on that mode of operation.  There was never a moment of hesitation from either of us.  We simply KNEW that I was the one to fulfill that role… without question!

But let me clarify our decision… It was an unmovable decision that WE made… but not everyone agreed with us!  But you know… what they thought really didn’t matter to us.  We smiled through many unfair statements (while being frustrated, hurt and confused on the inside at their reactions) and just set our feet and attention toward the direction that we believed God was showing us that was best for Piper.  At that point it was all about her and that was all that mattered to me. 

I firmly believe that if all husbands lived by Ephesians 5:25, that we would avoid the pitfalls of most marriage difficulties, family disputes and domestic problems.  Does that sound a little too simplistic?  I really don’t think so.  The last verse of the chapter adds the caveat to the success of my statement by adding that “wives should respect their husbands.” (Ephesians 5:33 God’s Word ©)  In my way of thinking… that would be more apt to happen if the husband was loving her as Christ loved the church and gave His all for her.

I know that I’ve mentioned this before, but its worth repeating in the context of this post.  Out of all the contrary things that were said and done against Piper and I… and maybe even worse than all I experienced as I witnessed Piper slowly slipping away right before my eyes... was the accusation from a few folks that they passed onto our kids early on, suggesting that I might not even stay with her in her time of need.  That was hard… and even though I have forgiven them, it still stings today when it comes to mind.  It was a very personal attack on everything I stood for… and it brought me to tears thinking that someone would have the mistaken idea that I didn’t love my precious wife.   

That accusation made two points clear.  First, it demonstrated how out-of-touch these folks were with us, and secondly, it proved to me how much I took Ephesians 5:25 to heart and it galvanized me to push through every detail, every activity, every different test and doctor’s appointment, all the legal paperwork and the routine tasks of her daily care that I needed to perform… That reminds me of a TV commercial that evoked a funny (now) memory…

I was cooking dinner last night while watching “The Five” on the Fox News Channel when an advertisement for Ensure nutritional drink came on.  And with it, I almost choked on my soda in laughter, as I remembered a few days with Piper when we were forced to use Ensure instead of the Boost nutritional drink that I had been giving her for years.  For some reason the stores we frequented in North Carolina ran out of stock for a few weeks, so we temporarily switched to Ensure thinking it would be just fine.  Well… to be frank… IT WASN’T!  Piper’s system did NOT handle it and… well… let’s just say I was faced with some unpleasant duties for a while!  Ah… the things we do for LOVE! --- But that’s just my point… you do those things when they come up because of the love you have for the other individual.  You don’t think… you just do!

So, what’s my point in all this?  I guess I am writing to married couples as well as to those who might be engaged or thinking about it. (Maybe to single men as well...)  I would suggest that you take a few moments alone together and read Ephesians chapter five, verses 15-33.  Make a decision if you’re going to take this section of God’s instruction to heart in your relationship.  The other thing I recalled when it was suggested that I might not stick with Piper, was when I said “I DO” on that Saturday afternoon in July, back in 1975.  I made a covenant with her on that day… “come sickness and in health” and there was NO WAY that I would EVER break that covenant with her!

It’s the same covenant that Jesus made with us when He shed His blood on Calvary a few thousand years ago… and you can rest assured that He’ll never break it!  That’s what Paul is telling us through Ephesians 5:25.  What do you think about that?

Have a great Thursday, and as you do, say with me… “I am expecting to LOVE my spouse just as much as Christ loves me!”