The last blog was a guest blog written by my dear friend Curtis Jackson. If you haven’t read it, please take the time to go back and read it. As I explained in his blog, guest blogs will always be followed up with a response blog from me. So here goes…
Curtis was writing on the passage Eph. 5:21-33. In this passage, Paul compares Christ’s love for us to how husbands and wives should love each other. Curtis brought this passage to me a few weeks ago, and I changed it a little. At first, I turned the words husband to Curtis and wife to Amber.
Then God challenged me to change the words to match my life. (I am not married guys, I promise). So I read and wrote the entire scripture to reflect my life…that junk was humbling. Mostly because I know that I am not ready to love and respect someone in the way God will call me to one day. Secondarily, because it reminded me of how much Christ loves me. There are a few verses that stuck out to me as I read. Verse 22 says: Jasmine submit to own your husband as to the Lord. Now if you know me you know, I’m pretty obedient to the Lord. I’m not perfect but I know my heart is tender to God, but I haven’t been that tender to many people other than God. LORD HELP ME. And I know he will…
Ephesians 5:33 says: “However, each one of you (husbands) also must love Jasmine as he loves himself, and Jasmine must respect her husband.” This stuck out to me for sad, sad reasons. The first is because I have cut down many a dude with my words in a few seconds. I’m not proud of these moments but know they can rise at any moment. I never really won in the respect department.
Also, I remember complaining to God a few years ago about someone I was dating at the time. It was just so hard for me to understand his thought process. But God responded and said, “Jasmine if he loves you the way he’s supposed to, it will be easy to respect him” That settled my heart back then and calms my soul today.
God loves us a whole lot, a whole whole lot. I am to love my future husband but also everyone in the way Christ loved us, that means even to death.
Now hear me, I am not saying you are to die for everyone on earth to save them. Jesus has already done that. But I do think this means we are to die to ourselves to bring out whatever is in them that needs to be brought out. Be all things to all people (1 Corinthians 9:19-23), as Paul says. We are to die to the parts of us that do not draw people to Christ. We must die to the parts of us that stop us from loving or respecting our spouses. We must die to anything, not like God or his son.
As I continue to meditate on what it means to love and respect my husband in the way Christ does and what it means to die to myself to bring myself to God, I reminded that as usual God is good. This means that I don’t have to carry these things by myself. God will give me grace when the time comes to complete both tasks. He will instruct me on how to respect my husband even when I think he’s making the wrong choice. He will show me how to die to myself when the need arises.
God is faithful to us y’all.
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