Love Your Wives!
Ephesians 5:25 (KJV) 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Loving and Lovable Husbands And Wives
From our windows that overlook some woods, we receive ongoing instruction from God's book of nature. This morning we are learning about love and romance from a pair of Northern Cardinals. We call them "Red" and "Juanita." Recently we have noticed Red feeding Juanita. Usually, it has been a one-time thing, but this morning he has fed her several times. She was sitting on a feeder several feet away from the feeder that has food, but she was not choosing to go over to the feeder and get it for herself. Rather, she was waiting for/allowing Him to bring her food. Red happily flew over to pick up a seed, then took it over and fed it to her. He seems so happy to feed his mate, and his tail is busy flicking and expressing his love in body language. Perhaps he is singing to her as well. For her part, Juanita coyly accepts his attention and takes the seed from his beak, which seems to motivate him to do it again. Red's affection seems to be entirely focused on Juanita—his actions seem entirely other-centered! She is a blessed mate. It goes without saying that Red's exhibition of love not only reflects on their relationship, but also speaks highly of all Northern Cardinals.
The latter point reminds me of a statement regarding how "a loving and lovable Christian is the most powerful argument in favor of the truth." Perhaps if more husbands were happily serving their wives—loving them, and their wives were coyly accepting their overtures—being lovable, there would be more happy marriages. These happy marriages would similarly speak highly of the Christian religion. Ultimately speaking, because service and interest in others—"other centeredness" is foundational to the Christian religion, you would expect that really happy marriages would be common—the rule and not the exception for believers—and thus reflecting very positively on their faith.
The copyrighted image is used with permission.