Soul Nourishment: Daily Devotional Moments

MONDAY, 19 AUGUST 2024

TEXT: Ephesians 5:21-33

21. Honor Christ and put others first.

22. A wife should put her husband first, as she does the Lord.

23. A husband is the head of his wife, as Christ is the head and Savior of the church, which is his own body.

24. Wives should always put their husbands first, as the church puts Christ first.

25. A husband should love his wife as much as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it.

26. He made the church holy by the power of his word, and he made it pure by washing it with water.

27. Christ did this, so he would have a glorious and holy Church, without faults or spots or wrinkles or any other flaws.

28. In the same way, a husband should love his wife as much as he loves himself. A husband who loves his wife shows he loves himself.

29. None of us hate our own bodies. We provide for them and take good care of them, just as Christ does for the church,

30. because we are each part of his body.

31. As the Scripture say, “A man leaves his father and mother to get married, and he becomes like one person with his wife.”

32. This is a great mystery, but I understand it to mean Christ and his church.

33. So each husband should love his wife as much as he loves himself, and each wife should respect her husband.

(Contemporary English Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: SUBMITTING TO ONE ANOTHER FOR CHRIST’S SAKE

The family is cardinal in God’s agenda for humanity and Scripture is full of imageries of the family.

In this text, Paul dealt with the relationship between a man and a woman in marriage. He called on the woman to be submissive to her husband and the husband to love his wife. All of them are expected to do their individual ministries as unto the Lord.

The cardinal issue here is the need to submit to one another as a mark of reverence for Christ. When this is done, everyone in the home front will be ministered to and the Church and society will be better than they are at the moment.

QUESTION: How do you relate with your wife or husband?

PRAYER: Help me to understand that whatever I do to my spouse is a ministry to you and grant me the grace to be faithful in that relationship, in Jesus name. Amen.