Love Looks Like Sacrifice
AP Brown
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and GAVE HIMSELF for it;" (Epesians 5:25)
Love gives. Lust takes. A husband is commanded to give his life, not only to Christ, but to the woman he choose as his wife. A man that is not in a love relationship with Christ cannot comprehend the command in this verse and will selfishly take from his wife to fulfill his own desires. His wife will eventually become spiritually drained as he takes, and takes, and takes. Change will not manifest until Christ opens that man’s eyes and heart and teaches him how to love (1 Corinthians 2:10, 14).
It should be instinctual for a husband to heroically jump in front of a bullet for his wife, or rush into a burning building to rescue the woman he loves. But rarely will a man get a chance to be this Hollywood-type hero. However, there are plenty of opportunities on a daily-bases to be a hero through sacrificial giving: Paul explains a more practical heroism in the book of Romans,: "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12:1). Husbands are to serve God first by holy and upright living in accordance to His Word. And in those private moments of warfare and lamentation; and in public moments of looking away and denying a vice, that man begins to decreases as lust dies and God begins to increase in Him (empowering that man to give himself more).
True heroic acts of love happen behind the scenes, when no one is watching.
There are no standing ovations and very few expressions of thanks. It is extremely difficult to live in this manner if lust is the driving force. Therefore, the motivation must be God-centered and grounded in love. Christ must be the reason he serve (reasonable service). The thing about a dead sacrifice is that it cannot move, it cannot voice an opinion, it cannot get off of the altar when the fire gets too hot. As a living sacrifice, that husband must endure the pain, talk to God instead of voicing objections, and stay on the altar when the flames of purification are at their hottest. Once those selfish motives and desires have died, then he has truly began to give himself and display what true love looks like.
Husbands, study more about becoming a Living Sacrifice: http://biblehub.com/romans/12-1.htm
"How is the body to become a sacrifice? Let thine eye look upon no evil thing, and it hath become a sacrifice; let thy tongue speak nothing filthy, and it hath become an offering; let thy hand do no lawless deed, and it hath become a whole burnt offering. But this is not enough, we must do good works also; let the hand do alms, the mouth bless them that despitefully use us, and the ear find leisure evermore for the hearing of Scripture. For sacrifice can be made only of that which is clean; sacrifice is a firstfruit of other actions. Let us, then, from our hands, and feet, and mouth, and all our other members, yield a firstfruit unto God" (St. Chrysostom). Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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