Greetings and it is our joy to be able to come to you once again today. This week, our daily devotionals have been focusing on the subject of marriage, and we are just reminding ourselves of what the word of God has to say on this subject, especially form the perspective of somebody who might be preparing for marriage and for those of us who are already married, may this come as a gentle reminder of the good thing that God has helped us enter into. Part of preparing for marriage is our readiness to love somebody else. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25, the bible says, ‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,’ This is a very strong instruction to the husband. If you are somebody who is considering becoming a husband and getting married, this is a powerful instruction. It says, husbands, love your wife, and it tells us in what measure and to what extent, it says even as Christ loved the church. The standard the bible is presenting to the husband is you got to love the way Christ loved, to the extent that Christ loved and in the same manner that He loved. That is a very tall order because if you really take time to think about it, very quickly we will mention a few things, but we recognize that Jesus loved those who didn’t love back. Jesus loved us when we were still sinners, when we were wayward, when we were unlovable, when we were enemies, He still loved. Jesus loved to the point He sacrificed everything, Jesus loved to the point He humbled Himself and became a servant. Jesus loved to the point where He forgave us of everything. These are few things that we could look at when the scripture says, ‘even as Christ loved.’ So, choosing to become a husband is choosing to enter into this place where you are saying, I’m ready to love as Christ loved. If you are not ready to do that, then you are not ready to be a husband because that is what the bible is telling us the husband’s role is. This is not to scare us or frighten us, but this is to tell us we have been given a privilege to imitate Christ as a husband in our marriage. That doesn’t mean that the wife shouldn’t love her husband back, obviously the wife also reciprocates that love. So, while the subject of Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25 is the husband, the wife also imitates Christ and learns to reciprocate that same kind of love, so that marriage then can be established on Christ centered and Christ like love, between the husband and the wife, the man, and the woman, who have entered into this holy state of being married. So, a very important preparation is ready to love as Christ loved. If you are married, that is the gold standard, that is what we are called to do toward our spouse, to love as Christ loved. If God has given us this commandment, then God will give us the grace and the power to fulfill it. So, we look to God and say God, help me to do that because you commanded me, you will empower me. Let’s pray, Lord, we ask that you empower us to love as Christ loved, in the marriage you have placed us. For those preparing, help us to be ready to love, even as Christ loved, in Jesus’s name, Amen.

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Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week’s theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week’s devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.