People ask all the time what is the key to having a successful marriage. What’s fun about that question is that every marriage expert has a different answer … but I believe the one who created and ordained marriage has the best answer …
He says in Ephesians 5:25 … Husbands,and I might add wives here too, love your spouse like Jesus loves His … yes Jesus has a spouse … it’s you and me …members of His church the bride of Christ.
There’s the key … learning to love your spouse like Jesus loves you! Stop and think about that … who loves you more than Jesus? Ah nobody!
We’re coming up on the most sacred time of year … Holy Week … when we celebrate Jesus’ sacrificial love for us …His death and resurrection to redeem us from sin and death.
Paul helps us understand the loving attitude that Jesus had in His willingness to leave heaven and come to earth to die for us … in Philippians 2 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit … but in humility consider others better than yourself … Have this same attitude in you that was in Christ Jesus …”
Jesus believed that our need for salvation was greater than His need to remain comfortable and stay in heaven … so He came to earth to die a death He didn’t need to die … to pay for sins He never committed …
He wasn’t worried about His selfish ambition … or vain conceit … He was despised, rejected and crucified! Who wants those as goals for their lives? Yet He was willing to suffer this because He loves you and me more than He loves Himself.
So there’s the secret … when I can learn to love Karen more than I love myself … and I demonstrate that by my putting her needs before satisfying my own personal comforts and reputation … and when she does the same for me … we will be experiencing the successful marriage that God has intended us to enjoy.
