The Power Of Love

I find it strange that we set aside one day a year, on Valentine’s Day, to show our spouses how much we love them.

To me, the fact that we have to appoint a day to remind us to do this speaks volumes about how off target our priorities are.

Everyday you live and breathe, with the God given gift of your spouse, bound in holy covenant matrimony, should be a Valentine’s Day.

One of the main reasons we need an annual reminder to show love is we have allowed society to redefine the roles and relationships of a husband and wife. Don’t take your matrimonial advice from the magazines or the latest talking head on daytime TV. Have the courage to see what the King of Kings has to say about who you should be and how you should treat those you love.

So what is true, biblical, romantic love?

First, love is between a man and woman. Genesis 1:27 reads, “and He created them male and female.” These are two equal beings in the eyes of God that were intended to compliment each other as opposed to compete with each other.

If you think the covenant love of marriage can exist between any relationship other than that of holy matrimony, you are deceived and you are living outside of God’s will which means you are living apart from His blessings.

Secondly, love is proof you are alive. For instance, 1 John 3:14 reads, “we know we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.”

Remember that your spouse is not only your husband or wife, they are your brother and sister in Christ and if you do not demonstrate love for them… your marriage is on it’s way to the matrimonial morgue.

Consider the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13. There he says that “without love” he is “nothing.” Paul goes on to define love, yet in Verse 5 he gives a key ingredient that brings biblical love into stark contrast with what we see in the world today.

Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 13:5, that “love does not seek its own.” Love looks for a way to give and it lives to a life of self-sacrifice for their beloved.

However, if you go on to read in 2 Timothy 3:2, there you see a portrait describing the love we see in the world around us today. It says, “men will be lovers of themselves.”

This is why “irreconcilable differences” have become household words. Because rather than live a life of self sacrifice for one another, we have put the god of self on the throne and demanded all others to bow before him.

Remember that Jesus Christ, our example, said, “love one another as I have loved you.” So, how did He love us? He loved us completely - even when we didn’t deserve it, in spite of all our shortcomings. When we weren’t worth loving, He loved us so much He was willing to die for us.

Many of you reading this have a choice to make. Are you willing to love, like Christ did, even before your spouse has got it all together? Even while they are still a work in progress, even before they deserve it? Will you love them completely, imperfections and all?

Or will you choose to only love the perfect mate. The one that does what you want them to do and becomes who you want them to be?

Selfish love is about you and it will destroy the destiny of the future that God has designed for your spouse. But, sacrificial love takes the dreams of your spouse and turns them into realities. It is true love, it is God’s love and it never fails.

Furthermore, love is built upon the Word of God and Jesus Christ. Psalm 127:1, says that “unless the Lord built the house… they labor in vain who build it.” As Christians, we should build our homes day by day and brick by brick on the Word of God. It will endure forever.

The model for biblical love is contained within the family and centered around the marriage relationship. Such relationship begins in the eyes of God with the man.

The Word says in, 1 Corinthians 11:3, “I want you to know the head of every man is Christ.” This means that if you, a man that is the head of your household, is not submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ, then you have no right to ask for your wife to submit to you!

You may think that you “are the king of the house” but you must submit to the King of Kings before you can become the king at your castle.

Submission is how you accomplish your mission. Christ submitted to God the Father and accomplished His mission to redeem mankind. Likewise, a man must submit to Christ in order to accomplish the mission of the church and establish the Kingdom of God.

Once a man submits to Christ Jesus, he has no problem living a life of sacrificial love that is required to have a successful life.

Similarly, a wife must submit to her husband in order to accomplish the mission of the family. But, if you want a satisfied wife, then you must become a satisfying husband and love her like Christ loved the church. Lay your life down for her.

Furthermore, while this all starts with the husband, it does indeed take two to make it work. As such, 1 Corinthians 11:3 says, “The head of a woman is man.”

Consider this, if your husband treats you like a priceless diamond; do you radiantly shine or do you act like a lump of coal all the time? Just as a man needs to have a proper perspective of his role submitted to King of Kings, the wife has to have a proper perspective of her role in the house.

As a Godly wife, you are the helpmate, not the hindrance. You are the compliment, not the competition. You are the equal partner.

Discussing wives, Genesis 1:28 says, “God blessed them.” But the blessings of God are equally on a Godly wife who is submitted to her husband, just as they are a Godly man submitted to Christ the Lord.

When you, as a child of God, submit to Christ you crucify your own will and seek to do His will.

The Word of God is the most powerful declaration of love ever printed. If you put the tools that you learn in through this series into practice, the love you have in your marriage will become exceedingly abundantly more magnificent than you could ever ask, think or imagine. I want to show you in God’s Word, the awesome power of true love that makes the impossible possible!

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