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KINDS OF LOVE IN A HAPPY HOME
We should read carefully Ephesians 5:21 - 6:4. In this section of the Bible we find marriage and the home compared to Christ and the church. There are seven characteristics of love that should be found among husbands, wives, and children in the home. Carrying out these things makes a happy home
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1. Submissive Love. "Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (Ephesians 5:22-24) A loving wife realizes she is not equipped to be the head of the family so she is most willing to be in subjection to her husband. She loves her man and wants to provide the emotional and physical support to help him be strong and successful in life. She sets a good example before him so he will want the gospel of Christ in his life. (I Peter 3:1-6) When such a bond exists in the home there is a happy home.
2. Sacrificing Love. "Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loves the church and gave himself for it." (Ephesians 5:25) The husband who loves his wife sacrifices his time, energy, and talent so that the needs of his wife, home, and family will be provided. "But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. (I Timothy 5:8) Christ died for the church because of the love he had for it. The husband who loves his wife is will to die for her if the need arises. He also feels the same about his children when the home is blessed with them.
3. Sanctifying Love. Christ loved the church so greatly that he sanctifies and cleanses it "with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:26, 27) Here we see the great things that Christ does for his church sanctifying and cleansing it in his blood when people hear, believe, repent, and are baptized in water as he commands. He wants his church to be holy and without blemish. In like manner, loving husbands and wives are true and faithful to one another so they can be sanctified for and in one another. To be sanctified is to be set apart either to one another or in service to God. In the case of the husband and wife it is to one another. This implies a keeping of self for the other in the case of both husband and wife. The young women should be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good and obedient to their own husbands. (Titus 2:4,5) Men need to be good partners with their wives in all the things that have to do with the home keeping. Don’t burden down the wife with all the responsibilities to keep a smooth home going, but you men do your part also.
4. Sensitive Love. "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." (Ephesians 5:28-30) When Eve was made for Adam he said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man." (Genesis 2:23) Men should appreciate all the sacrifices their wives go through in housekeeping, helping earn the living, bearing the children, and in taking care of the needs of the children. Be sensitive to her needs and be on hand to help out all you can. Don’t let your civic and work obligations destroy the closeness you should have with your wife.
5. Sustaining Love. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." (Ephesians 5:31) While husbands and wives are individuals, in marriage they are one in purpose and in life. Jesus quoted this and added "what therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." (Matthew 19:6) This love goes on and on as long as both shall live. I usually tell couples getting married that their love for one another and their pride in one another needs to grow stronger as the years go by.
6. Sibling Love. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise." (Ephesians 6:1, 2) Children have a natural affinity to their parents. In growing up children often want to assert their independence. They try to make big decisions too early in life. The need to realize that their parents are older and wiser and that they need to listen to them when instruction or correction is given. Children should honor their parents because they are responsible for them being in the world. Good parents respect God and they would not place rules and regulations on their children that are not good for them. They want to keep them in the way of the Lord which is the right way to live. You will always be happy with yourself if you can remember that you obeyed your parents right on up to adulthood. "A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother." (Proverbs 10:1)
7. Parents Love For Siblings. "And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4) The loving father and mother give instructions and correction to their children. Nurture means discipline done by teaching and by disciplinary correction which are needed in the life of the child. The parents are not to be cruel and degrading to the children which will provoke them to wrath. They are to use moderate means of correction and do a lot of affectionate persuading of them to do the right things in their lives. The admonition of the Lord is the loving encouragement to do right. "The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." (Proverbs 29:15) "Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul." (Proverbs 29:17)
Marriage and the home are foundations for society and the prelude to heaven. We need strong Christian families to make strong churches, great citizens, and to have an orderly society. Let’s restore the kinds of love that the Lord lays out for us to have. C.D.
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