Wednesday, June 2

…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:26-28


Begin today by acknowledging Christ’s call to servanthood. Ask him to show you how you might serve your spouse – or others – in a more humble and loving way.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing of the water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church – for we are all members of his body. Ephesians 5:25-30

We live in a culture obsessed with love. Love is the theme of most of the music we listen to, most of the movies we see and most of the television shows we watch. The problem is that our culture is often very confused when it comes to the very definition of love.

The 1980’s rock group “Foreigner” (not that I was a “Foreigner” fan – I looked it up!) had a hit song entitled, “I Want to Know What Love Is,” in which they sing:

“I want to know what love is, and I want you to show me.
I want to feel what love is, and I know you can show me.”

So, what is love? What is real love? What does love look like in marriage?
Here, in a nutshell, Paul says love looks a lot like Jesus!

Love is sacrificial: Jesus gave himself up for her.
Love is protective: husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.
Love is nourishing: he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church.
Love serves: “…the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve…”

Paul is saying if we want to know what love is, we should look at Jesus. So much of our cultural definition of love is selfish in nature. We love others because of how they make us feel, or for what they can do for us. And when we don’t feel the right way – or when they cease to do for us what we want – our love wanes, or even disappears.

True love does involve powerful feelings – and, in the case of marriage, even romance. But it is also more than that. True love is also sacrifice and service. True love is not selfish but unselfish. True love does not just take but seeks to give.

True love says, “Through Christ I know what love is, and I want to live out his love by loving, serving and caring for you.”

Thank Jesus for his model of sacrificial, serving and faithful love – and ask him to help you share this love as a gift to your husband, wife, children or friends.

Brian Coffey