Following in His Footsteps

Paul moves from wives to husbands both in the vertical sense, and now in the horizontal sense. A husband treats his wife the way that God does. He does so by loving, sanctifying, and presenting her. But how does he do these things? Of course, the husband cannot do them the way that Christ has done. However, the husband can emulate Jesus with the way that he treats his wife. A husband loves his wife sacrificially, not just by the literal giving of his body, but in the day to day looking out for his wife's needs before his own. He sanctifies his wife by setting her apart as a fellow heir in Christ (1 Peter 3:7). She is no ordinary woman, she is a child of the King. The husband presents his wife to the Lord as a precious and spotless daughter of the King. The question is, do you, husband, look to the betterment of your wife with eternity in view? Do you see her as no ordinary woman? How would your wife look if you had to present her before her maker tonight, tomorrow? Would she be in the most beautiful of array, or would she be in sackcloth? These are questions that must be asked as this text is looked at.