Thursday, February 14, 2008

I Love Me

He who loves his wife loves himself.
(Ephesians 5:28 – ESV)

The title of our message sounds very selfish, doesn’t it? Yet in the light of our text, it begins to make sense. The text does not describe a situation where a man must first love himself in order to love his wife: don’t misread or misinterpret that. Despite what modern psychology might say, get the order right, and see what the Apostle Paul, guided along by the Holy Spirit was trying to tell us here. A man who loves his wife with all his life is going to reap substantial benefit personally. A wise man that loves his wife understands that it is for his own good.

This also applies to the Body of Christ, as we see clearly in the text itself. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32). We are to love our wives and Paul uses this to show how we are also to love the Church, as Christ does. We are to love our wives and our church as our own flesh, in this we are to be Christlike because Jesus nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body (Ephesians 5:29-30).

Of course, by way of implication, the reverse is also true. They may not realize it, but what men are doing in denying their wife their life is they are bringing hate on themselves. Now no one ever hated his own flesh unless of course they were out of their right minds. But that is the problem; men don’t understand what this verse brings out in bold relief. Many men don’t love their wives properly, and it is because they hate themselves. The same goes for church.

In order to nourish and cherish our relationship with our wives as we ought, we should see it in the context of this thought: if we are not loving our wives, if we are denying them some part of our love, if we are denying them some part of our lives, if we are cheating on them in practice or in our minds, if we are not nurturing and cherishing them, then what we are doing is hating ourselves, and no one in his right mind would do that.

Conversely, when we love our wives out of a pure heart motive what we are actually doing is something more than loving them; we are loving ourselves. Think about it: if we go all out for our wives won’t this make it better for us? Perhaps they won’t reciprocate but didn’t Christ give more than He got back? Do you want to be Christ like? Paul tells us husbands exactly how, in very simple terms. Christ loves the Church because it is His own body and we are to love our wives because we are one flesh. Improve you love life. Stop hating on yourself.

To Margie:

You are my darling, you are valuable and precious, you become more and more to me every day. May I love Christ so much that it spills out into every area of our lives.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY SWEET PEA!!!!!!!

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

22 comments:

Kim said...

You are one terrific guy.

Margie is a blessed woman, indeed, and I am willing to bet that she knows that.

Excellent post for what is a Hallmark Holiday. An excellent time for all wives and husbands to reflect on the gift of marriage.

Anonymous said...

the perfect companion for me.... I am blessed beyond measure to have even known you, …let alone be your wife. (I couldn't agree with you more)I love you David, you are without a doubt the most wonderful husband in the world and definitely way in the lead for husband of the year! :)
BTW I also agree with Kim.

Dan said...

Hey!! Cindy said I was in the lead! Seriously though, excellent post. If more men could grasp that and stop just trying to get something out of a relationship, which like you said ends up with the opposite reaction from your wife. God bless you two.

jazzycat said...

J.D.,
What a great post. I think both of yall are blessed. The love shines through.

Even So... said...

Happy Valentine's Day, sweet pea...

Anonymous said...

Happy Valentine's Day, honey...

Kim said...

Sweet pea... that is very sweet, indeed!

Frank Martens said...

Have you been listening to Piper lately or something? :)

Even So... said...

Frank, I love John Piper, and listen to him often, but I haven't been listening in on his latest stuff, so I guess God is just blessing me to be on some of the same pages as my favorite preacher is...or that I have been influenced so that I repeat some of the things he says that are biblical, and that God wants to be repeated...in any event, cool...

Brian said...

Right on target my man. But you knew I would say that.

Grace and Peace

Craver Vii said...

So good to see that you're feeling better!

Blessings to you and Margie!

Anonymous said...

Blessings to all!! JD, glad your starting to feel better! God be praised!! I could not have expressed what you wrote in your post any better. I find as Dan said as well to have been true. Looking at this from both angles. My wife is a treasure sent from above wrapped in rings of gold. (A portion of the song we used in our wedding 2 years ago.) The rings of gold, no begining and no end, a large part of the wedding serimonies.
I love my wife, therefore I abviously love myself. Thank you Lord.

Anonymous said...

O-B-V-I-O-U-S-L-Y

Even So... said...

For those who are single, and those who are not, of course, but for those who are not attached, please remember to love your church, and the people in it...you should still love the church with all your might as you would if you were married, the lesson still applies........

Even So... said...

Another Valentine's Day and this post is just as relevant now as then...

Even So... said...

The message at the bottom is different, though...last year's message was the dedication to the Voice of Vision book...

MrsEvenSo... said...

You are so wonderful! You live what you believe without a doubt. Praise God Almighty! I love you so very much. :D

MrsEvenSo... said...

You are my darling, you are valuable and precious, you become more and more to me every day. May I love Christ so much that it spills out into every area of our lives.

There goes that ventriloquist again!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY HONEY!!!!!!!

Halfmom, AKA, Susan said...

A good post JD, whenever it was written!

Even So... said...

Ddi you open your card yet, dear?

MrsEvenSo... said...

Thank you so much for the beautiful card and gift. I love you! :D

JoyfullyHis said...

Awwwwwwwwwww! :)