Whats a Husband To Do - Ephesians 5:25

In this captivating episode of Weekly Wisdom with Jeff Schreve, brought to you by Pray.com, Pastor Jeff explores Ephesians 5:25 and delves into the crucial role of husbands in a marriage. Discover the significance of loving and respecting your spouse, and how God's guidance can lead to a strong, spiritual marital bond. Tune in to experience the transformative power of faith in your relationship and learn to strengthen your marriage with divine wisdom.

Welcome to Weekly Wisdom, an inspirational series hosted by Pastor Jeff Schreve. Each week, Pastor Jeff illuminates different sections of the Holy Bible, meticulously extracting pivotal themes and life lessons that can enrich and uplift your daily life. 

This series invites you to delve deeper into understanding the scripture, offering a transformative platform for spiritual growth. As you navigate through this journey, you will be offered an opportunity to fortify your relationship with God, accompanied by Pastor Jeff's insightful guidance. 

Join us weekly as we engage in heartfelt prayer and foster a stronger connection to God, under the expert guidance of Pastor Jeff Schreve. Experience a profound transformation as you embrace the wisdom of the Bible, distilled for you, each week.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, friends, Welcome to this episode of the Weekly Wisdom
podcast from pray dot Com. I'm Pastor Jeff Shreeve from Texarkana, Texas,
and today I want to read to you from Ephesians
chapter five, beginning in verse twenty five. Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with

(00:22):
the washing of water by the word, that he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot
or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love
their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his
wife loves himself. No man ever hated his own flesh,
but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the Church.

(00:47):
Let's pray, Father in Heaven, we need your help in
this thing called marriage. As husbands, we need you to
help us love our wives and the way you command
us to do it. And as wives, we need your
help respect our husbands as you command us to do it. So, Lord,
we thank you that when we yield our will to you,

(01:07):
that you provide the power to fulfill your word. And
we thank you that no matter where we are in marriage,
you are able to do miracles as we look to
you in Jesus' name. Amen. So, husbands, I have a
question for you. Do you understand what God commands you

(01:28):
to do in your marriage? You know in the verses
that we just read in Ephesians five, God provides two
clear directives for husbands. The first divine directive is for
husbands to love their wives. Now, this command is repeated
three times in the span of nine verses. We would say, well,
one time means it's important, two times it's really important.

(01:51):
But three times it's almost as if the Lord is
shouting to get our attention. Our job as husbands is
to love our wife life. Now we're called to love
our wives with agape love. That's the highest kind of love.
That's the love that puts her needs above our needs.
Christ's love for the Church serves as a model for us.

(02:13):
He gave himself for us, cleansing and sanctifying us so
that we might become holy and blameless in his sight. Now,
to love our wives as Christ loves the Church. Well,
that's indeed a tall order, and that requires us to
put aside our own desires and selfishness and prioritize her
needs and her desires. Hey, make no mistake, no man

(02:35):
can do this in and of his own strength. We
have to rely on the strength that Christ provides, and
we can let Him love our wives through us through
the power of the Holy Spirit that's available to us.
As we yield ourselves to Him, and as we let
the Spirit of Jesus feel and control us, we can

(02:57):
love our wives with a sacrificial, selfless life that's just
as strong in the bad times as it is in
the good times. Now, the second divine directive for husbands
is that we nourish and cherish our wives. Now, cherish
is a protecting word. We cherish that which is valuable
to us. When a wife is cherished, she feels so special.

(03:22):
Years ago, we had an Olympic speedskater in our church
for a special event. He had won five medals in
the Olympics, one gold, two silver, and two bronze over
his Olympic career. He brought his medals with him, but
he had a sign on the table please do not touch.
You can look, but you can't touch. Those medals were

(03:43):
a treasured, cherished possession to him, and he treated them
with the ultimate care and gentleness. Now, husbands, do you
treat your wife like the unfathomable treasure that she is?
Does she feel treasured and cherished? That's the real test.
Does she feel it? And then secondly, we're to nourish
our wives. Now that's a providing word. Cherish fills her

(04:06):
emotional tank and nourish fills her physical tank and brings
her up to maturity. And when we nourish her, we
help her grow and we meet her need for security,
which is a really big need for a woman. Now
we are called by God to do all we can
to provide physically and financially for our wives. Now we

(04:26):
don't have to meet every material greed, but we do
have to meet every material need as the Lord provides.
And so the bottom line is this, when we love
our wife and nourish and cherish her, we are fulfilling
our job description before the Lord. We are providing good soil. Well,
we are providing good soil for our wife to bloom

(04:47):
and blossom and grow. She will feel so safe and
secure in that kind of environment, and she will respond
with respect, admiration and desire for you as her husband. Now, listen,
As we reflect on these directives, we can see that
being a husband is not a title, it's a calling.
Is a calling to love and serve our wife, to

(05:08):
put their needs above our own needs, and to reflect
the love of Christ in our marriage. Listen, it's easy
to become complacent in marriage and to take our spouse
for granted and neglect their needs. But if we'll look
to the Lord and keep his directives, we can see
him work through us to build a strong, healthy, vibrant,
and satisfying marriage that blesses our wives, blesses our kids,

(05:32):
and speaks volumes to a lost world concerning the difference
Jesus makes in our life and in our home. So
let's pray together, Father and Heaven, we thank you for
your word. We thank you that you want to give
us the power as husbands to love our wives as
Christ love the Church, to nourish her and cherish her. Lord,
show us where we are failing in doing our job

(05:55):
description and help us Lord to look to you, to
trust you to give us the wisdom to know how
to nourish and cherish our wives, how to love them
in a way that they feel it, in a way
that makes a difference before we pray this in Jesus
Mighty name. Amen. Thanks for listening to this episode of

(06:15):
Weekly Wisdom. I'm Pastor Jeff Shreeve and I would love
to connect with you. Visit my website at Fromhisthheart dot
org for resources and other opportunities to help you grow
in your faith and for more wisdom to last a
lifetime and to make prayer priority in your life. Download
thepray dot com app, and if you enjoyed this podcast,

(06:35):
please share it with someone in your life who might
also be encouraged by it. Hey, make it a great week,
and may God richly bless you