Honoring Jesus

I heard a woman complaining about Jesus the other day. She said horrible things, awful things. She said things like, " He is so ungrateful. He never helps me at all. I work and serve him all day long. I give up my own desires to please him and does he ever thank me? No. And he never compliments me either. He never even notices how nice I am to him. He doesn't see when I try to look nice for him. He doesn't even care. And he never does the things I ask him to. He is always so busy doing the things that he wants to. In fact he's lazy. He sits around and wastes time while I do all of the real work. I take care of my kids. I take care of my house. I make sure everything is clean and nice. Do I ever get a day off? No. All he does is demand things of me. He tells me what to do and how he wants it done. He's so bossy. So I try to do what he tells me; I give it my best, and how does he reward me? He ignores me! When was the last time he gave me pretty flowers or spent time paying attention to me? When was the last time that he really appreciated me? I deserve better!" On and on she went. I couldn't believe my ears! How dare she talk that way! Then a few days later I heard her crying. She was so sad. She sounded so lost and lonely and pitiful. She told me all about how miserable she was. How badly she was suffering because of all those things she had told me about. At first I felt really bad for her, but then I realized that she was so wrong! She shouldn't be saying such things about Jesus! She was thinking about things all wrong!

Have you ladies ever heard any women talk about Jesus this way? No?
Well how about their husbands?
Wait a minute (one might say), my husband is NOT Jesus. It's not the same. And that's true. My husband isn't Jesus either.

Scripture says, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands." Ephesians 5:22-24 "... and let the wife see that she respects her husband" Eph. 5:33b

You see, I must confess that this woman was me. I had given in to my sinful old flesh and was having a complaining party in my mind. I was being selfish, self-deceiving, bitter, prideful, and angry. But then my new heart was listening and was sending warning signals to my mind. Then the Spirit was so kind to remind me that I was to love and respect my husband as if he were Jesus, Himself. So when I think unloving, disrespectful, ungrateful thoughts about my husband, it's just like as if I were thinking those thoughts about Jesus! Plus since God is sovereign, when I get angry with my husband I am also getting angry with God because of what He allowed to happen. So when I have a sinful attitude toward my husband, I have a sinful attitude toward God. Wow.. that's alot of sin! In light of all of this, I could see that it was so wrong of me to allow myself to give in to those sinful, fleshly thoughts and ungrateful attitudes. I had to confess my sins to God (and Ry because I knew that I had acted out my sinful attitudes) and repent of them! Praise God that He forgives sin and truly does give us the strength to follow Him!

So now I ask you ladies... have you heard anyone lately (even in the quietest voice in the back of their mind?) talking about Jesus in that way? How about their husbands? Or maybe their future husband, etc....

Isn't life so much better when we can focus on the beauty of Jesus and the grace and mercy that He has shown us, through submitting to Him and following His gospel call to be His bride? Isn't life so much better when we can focus on the beauty of Jesus at work in our husbands and live out the beauty of the gospel through respecting and joyfully submitting to our husband?

Dear Jesus, help us to love You more and submit to our husbands and reverence them as the wonderful men that you will make them in Your good timing, when You conform them to Your image.