A Toothbrush Moment

Don’t you just love those moments whenever something that you haven’t thought about for awhile [I suppose your subconscious mind could have been mulling it over without your knowledge], and suddenly it comes to the forefront of your mind again and clicks?  I had one of those moments last night.  I had just finished reading my Bible, and had fallen asleep praying [don’t judge…we’re all guilty of that, the disciples included] and went upstairs to brush my teeth.  As I was going to town on my teeth, I started thinking about how the Bible says for wives to submit to and respect their husbands, and for husbands to love their wives.  I had wondered for some time why it never seemed to say that wives were to love their husbands.   But then it dawned on me, respect is two-fold.   The man you respect is the man you can love.  The kind of person you respect is the kind of person you deserve.  For example, let’s say there’s a girl, who may “love” a boy who is flirtatious with other girls and all around good-for-nothing, and because her standard is low she fools herself into believing that she respects him.  But as she matures in Christ and realizes who she is in Christ and her value, her standard of what a Godly husband should look like will raise considerably.  So then she can no longer respect a man who is no good for her.  [Stay with me male readers, I am in no way assuming that all men are like that, and I know that I have many brothers in Christ who are honorable men…I am just focusing on the female perspective for right now].  So a Godly young man should strive to earn the respect of a Godly young woman.  After some researching, I found out that the respect that is referred to in Ephesians 5:33 [“However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband”] is the same word used for fearing the Lord—phobeo.  So women should have a respect for their husbands that mimics their respect for the Lord.  God’s character is immaculate and deserving of phobeo, but humanity is depraved and undeserving.   A Christian man must imitate the character of Christ [i.e. Eph. 5:25-28 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself”].  If I respect someone it is because there in some way above me—an authority figure, someone older than me, someone smarter than me, or someone whose character proves to be more honorable than mine own.  [Of course, we are called to love everyone regardless, but respect is more a response to worthiness…giving respect where respect is due].  So if a women respects her husband, that implies that he is a leader worthy of it, in all areas, but most importantly spiritually, and is someone who is truly her better half.  Whenever you have respect and admiration for someone like that then you have a love deeper than those cheap worldly imitations.  It’s quite a beautiful system really, if you are a Christian striving to honor God then your standard of a mate is going to match God’s standard.  You’ll respect the kind of man that has a heart after God’s own heart.  And a man like that will value you and love you like God does, like Christ loves the Church.