Such Love!

Daily Reading: Ephesians 5

Scripture Focus: as Christ loved the church... (Ephesians 5.25)

Devotional Thought: In Ephesians 5 we find a beautiful description of the love between a husband and wife. Enclosed within joyful self-surrender (mutual submission), marital love reveals the nature of Christ's love for his Church:

Christ's love is a...

• Sacrificing love. Christ gave himself for the church. His love was so great that he died on the cross to redeem his bride. No demand was too high for Christ's love, no service too low. I ask prospective husbands: "You say you would die for your fiancé. Would you sweep the floors for her?” Christ's love is like that.

• Sanctifying love. Christ desires a pure and holy bride. I like what one author wrote: "'Without spot or wrinkle' means without one trace of defilement or one mark of age." In the words of Robert Browning, "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made." Over the years, Christ sets apart his bride as holy and precious.

• Sustaining love. Just as we nourish and care for our bodies, we should also nourish and care for our spouses. Our love sustains our mates through the years. Christ's love is like that. He makes promises to us. He protects us. He provides for us.

• Secret love. Paul spoke of the profound mystery of marital love, a love that goes within the bridal chamber and is shared intimately between a husband and wife. The love of Christ for the church is a "secret love" that is shared only within the bonds of Jesus. It is a mystery that awaits full revelation until the end.

Such love! Such wondrous love!

Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for your wonderful love. I receive it with gladness of heart. Help me to love you in return with a sacrificing, sanctifying, sustaining, secret love. Amen.

Psalm of the Day: 1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! 2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! 3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. 5 Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, 7 to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, 8 to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, 9 to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the LORD! (Psalms 149:1-9)