Day 30: Sacrificial Love

Head: 2 Peter 1: 5 -7 has taken us through Faith, Virtue, Knowledge, Self-Control, Steadfastness, Godliness & Kindness, and today we have reached Love.  Not only will we study on our own personal relationship of Love in our marriage but we will also discuss how God's pure love makes it possible for use to love and makes our lives even sweeter.

Titus 2:4: "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands..."

The Bible teaches us that loving our husbands means putting his needs before our own.  We must never forget that when God created us, our purpose was to be our husbands help meet.  We were created perfectly for our husbands.  We are to cling to each other in everything we do.

"For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall become one flesh.  This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Eph 5: 31-32)

In order to love our husbands purely, we first must put God's Love into perspective.  God created each of us out of love.  He wanted us in his presence from the moment He thought of us and formed us in our mothers womb.  His love radiated straight out of Him and created the moon, the stars and all the wonders of the world AND created you.    Again, God showed us his complete love, even after we sinned against Him, disappointed Him, disrespected Him and defiled His name.  He gave His Son to us to crucify so that no other sacrifice could be as great.  Nothing could top His sacrificial love for us.   Here is a story that I heard on the radio and it really put things in perspective, I wish I knew it verbatim as this is all by memory...

Once Upon A Time, in a far away kingdom there lived a king who was good, gracious and loving.  He built his kingdom from the ground up and was loved by his people.  It was beautiful, the love that the king had for his people and theirs for him.  One day, an outsider to the kingdom came in and saw its beauty.  He wanted it for himself.  So, the outsider who knew nothing of love, grace or goodness started plotting to over take the king.  Little by little he started putting doubt into the minds of the people in the kingdom, little by little they started bickering, fighting, grumbling and moaning about the king and all that he expects them to do to help maintain the kingdom.  Did the king really thing that these people should work just for the necessities of life, what about luxuries that this outsider keeps speaking of?  Why shouldn't they be able to take advantage of those?  Little by little there grew a feeling of distrust, anger and vengeance among the people.  Little by little they began to disrespect the king and became selfish. 

The king could not understand why his people were breaking his heart in such a way.  Had he not provided for them everything they would ever need, had he not rewarded their goodness with pleasures beyond their imagination?  Had he not loved them unconditionally?  Still, the people began to live lives that were not good, gracious or loving towards one another.  War was a word that they had not known but now it is on everyone's lips.  The king saw this and grieved for his beautiful kingdom and all the people in it.  He wanted them to be happy and to know how much he loved them.  So, one day the prince asked the king if he could go down into the kingdom and walk among the people.  He wanted  to love them, listen to them, teach them and show them what was good.  The king let himAfter awhile down in the kingdom, the people who so much hated the king, also began to resent his son for telling them what was right and what was wrong.  Some even said that this man was not the kings son but merely a trouble maker.

The people then realized that the one thing that they could do, to hurt their king in a way that he would never recover was to kill his son.  The hunted down the man who called himself a prince, beat him, whipped him, tortured him, humiliated him until he was not eve recognized as a human being.  His skin was mangled, bruised, swollen and falling away from his body.  In the end, he was killed.  The people cheered.  They had finally killed the imposter and could go on about their lives without ridicule or rebuking.

The king did something that was beyond their imagination.  He stepped out and told his people that he still loved them even though it was his son that they had murdered and that he would forgive each and every one of them who simply admits that it was his son whom they had killed and ask for forgiveness for their hateful way of living.  One by one, people from the village came to the king and announced that they believe that it was his son, that they were sorry and that they would live a good and gracious life again.

For the rest of the days of the kingdom, it was torn.  There was always the good and always the evil.  Still, the king loved his people despite what they had done to his son.   Sacrificial

Heart: Can you even imagine that kind of love?  Imagine, if you have children, sending your child out into the world to be good, only to be murdered by evil doers.  This happens every day but it is only God that can truly forgive.  I can not for a second imagine something like this happening to my son, I certainly would not be able to willingly lay my sons life down because of the evil of others, by my choice. 

When we talk about what it means to be loved, we don't often think about how important it is for us wives to do our part in the "loving" process.  If we are to know God and know His love we must do our job in studying on his Word and asking for His help when needed, praise Him for the wonders in our lives and much more.  Why would we expect less in our marriage?  Why wouldn't we want to pray for our husbands, lift them up, praise them, be the help that they need, etc.  To do so would mean that were were closer everyday to experiencing the love in our marriage that God intends.   Our husbands do not first want us to be workers that make lots of money, or the best housekeeper within 100 miles; they want us to tell them how wonderful they are.

being heirs together of the grace of life... ( 1 Peter 3:7)

Hands: Think of a way to show your husband honor and respect.  It may be putting away his clothes for him, cooking his favorite meal, doing something that he has asked you to do recently.  It could even been the way you communicate or listen to him.  Show him that he is highly esteemed in your eyes.  Honor and love him with your words and actions, pray for him.