Sunday was about Mr. and Mrs. Imperfect showing love and respect to one another. We took a brief look at a few verses found in Ephesians 5:21-33 that offer some instruction on a relationship between a husband and wife. We focused on a husband showing love for his wife and a wife showing respect towards her husband.
I prefaced what was presented with the following comments. Family is very important to God. It was His idea. Marriage, the union between a man and woman is very important to God. It was His idea. In Scripture you will find various roles that a husband and wife will fulfill in a marriage. Friends,partner, counselor, lover, confidant, encourager, corrector, buddy. You will not find in Scripture that the wife is too stay at home and be a homemaker and the husband is to go to work and earn the income and the wife is to take care of "homemaker stuff" and the husband is to take care of "manly stuff". You will find that a husband and wife are to honor one another, lift one another up and honor God in their relationship. In Ephesians 5:21-33 you will find that out of honor to Christ we are all to submit to one another and respect one another. You will find that a wife is to submit to her husband as she does to Jesus Christ and that a husband is to love his wife as much as Jesus loved the church and gave His life for the church.
A husband is to love his wife. The Greek word used for love in this passage means an unconditional love, a welcoming love, a love that bestows life into a person. It is the type of love that God has for us. It is not a "I love you if... or a I love you because..." It is a "I love you (period). This love is much more than a feeling. It is an action word. It is self sacrificing, giving, other oriented, and very considerate of the other. This love that the husband is to show for his wife is relational. It moves past rules, regulations, guidelines and preconceived roles. In this type of love the husband is committed to is wife's fulfillment, joy, purpose and beauty.
A wife is to respect her husband. The Greek word used in this passage means for the wife to submit to her husband. It means to arrange under, to submit to one's control, to obey. In the military sense it means to troop divisions under the command of a leader. In the non-military sense it means to have a voluntary attitude of giving in.., cooperating, carrying a burden, to place yourself below the other. a wife is to honor and respect her husband. When a wife submits to er husband as she does to Jesus Christ she is honoring her husband and God. This does not mean that a wife is n to be heard. This does not mean a wife is to be a doormat. this does not mean that a wife is to stay at home and take care of all the "wife stuff". It does mean that a wife is to willingly submit to her husband. It does meant that a wife is to honor her husband. It does mean that a wife is to lift up her husband and respect him.
Love and Respect is not all there is to a marriage relationship. There is much more, but the Ephesians passage is about love and respect. the two words if fleshed out taught in this passage will produce satisfying fruit in a marriage relationship.
As a Hope Deal I have to opportunity to be involved in wedding ceremonies of various types, but every couple has one intent in their marriage, "BLISS". These truth of love and respect can lead to marriage bliss.
“You have the freedom to choose your actions, you don't have the freedom to choose the consequences of your actions”
This past Sunday Sunrise ended our "Meet the Imperficts" series. Hopefully we all have gleaned some insight into the family unit and have grown in our relationship to God and family members during this series. The last topic for this series was chosen because in our imperfect families we need God's grace to abound and miracles to happen. We sometimes need medical miracles, money miracles, forgiveness and restoration miracles, strength miracles during times of hardship and various other miracles or pouring out of God's grace are needed in our families. God is into family. He wants us to experience healthy, vibrant, and encouraging family relationships. But because I am imperfect, and are imperfect this can often times be difficult if not seemingly impossible. We live in the Young and the Imperfects, or the Bold and the Imperfects or, As the Imperfects Turn. Soap Operas are much more than TV shows they are sometimes are lives. Broken relationships between parents and children and siblings. The sudden loss of a loved one when all seems to be so well. Divorce, addictions, hurtful words and actions, and the list could go on. STOP. STOP. God's grace and truth can bring positive change and hope to individuals and families. God will meet us at our need and can do a wonderful work if we are willing to allow Him to do so and believe in Him and His word. No, all will be perfect, but you and your family can move into a new realm of thinking, relating, caring, forgiving, helping, encouraging, sharing, and growing together in Christ and with one another if we will choose to allow God to meet our needs and choose to belief Him and His word . Please back up and read that sentence again. One more time. May God work a miracle in our lives and may we become the change we wish to see in the world. May God work a miracle in our families and....
The Father's Day service was very upbeat and we gave away some really neat gifts to men. Thanks to Kathy Holland and Jenny Michonski for helping with the gifts that were given away.
This is a day that we honor Old Glory, the flag of our great nation. There is great symbolism in the folding of the Stars and Stripes. The folding of the flag 13 times is for the original colonies. 1st fold is a symbol of life. 2nd fold, belief in eternal life. 3rd fold, in honor of veterans. 4th fold, the weakness of humans and our dependence on God. 5th fold, a tribute to our nation. 6th fold, honoring the Pledge of Allegiance, "one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all." 7th fold, tribute to the Armed Forces. 8th fold, tribute to one who entered the shadow of death that we might see the light of day. 9th fold, tribute to mothers. 10th fold, tribute to fathers. 11th fold, glorifies the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 12th fold, emblem of eternity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 13th fold, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our nation's motto, "One nation under God."
Sunday was about Mr. and Mrs. Imperfect showing love and respect to one another. We took a brief look at a few verses found in Ephesians 5:21-33 that offer some instruction on a relationship between a husband and wife. We focused on a husband showing love for his wife and a wife showing respect towards her husband.
This month Sunrise is continuing with the theme of The Imperficts. During this series we are delving into family life and issues and discovering ways to live in joy in the midst of The Imperficts or the family unit in which we live. This past Sunday the topic was Thank God for One Anothir: Family Fun. In our families we can thank God for many things, but we focused on giving thanks for variety and for unity. Thank God for variety. Thank God for the different personalities, abilities, and ways of approaching life that each family member adds to the family unit. Variety adds spice and pizazz to the family. Variety broadens your horizons, leads to learning and makes family life and life in general more enjoyable. Instead of picking one another apart we can choose to be thankful for one another and place a high value on variety and each family members uniqueness. We have the opportunity to choose being thankful and enjoying variety which will lead to more family conversation, openness, forgiveness, encouragement, and joy in our lives. We also discussed being thankful for unity. Family unity leads to less "busyness" and more purpose, direction, meaning and joy. The poll questions about busyness revealed no one in the crowd desired more busyness in the lives, and yet almost everyone desired more purpose, direction, meaning and joy. Seeking to create unity and thanking God for one another will lead to more purpose, direction, meaning and joy in our family lives and in life in general.
