To Encourage You

Ephesians 5:29-30 “He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body.”

Sometimes when I read the Scriptures, I get hit between the eyes.  Actually, I probably should get hit like this every time I read the Bible, for God’s Word is filled with challenges that are very, very high.  That’s the way the verses above hit me this morning as I was reminded of them.  You see, I’ve read these verses many times over the years, but did I really listen to them? Sometimes I wonder.  It’s the word “cherish” that is nestled down in the middle of this text that caught my particular attention today.  Have you ever thought much about this word? There’s an old song by the Association entitled “Cherish” that I’m sure you’ve heard.  The first verse goes like this:

“Cherish is the word I use to describe
All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside
You don’t know how many times I’ve wished that I had told you
You don’t know how many times I’ve wished that I could hold you
You don’t know how many times I’ve wished that I could
Mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you”

In this song the word “cherish” is a very tender word that speaks of very intimate and caring affection.  The Greek word translated “cherish” in Ephesians 5 means to keep warm, like a hen brooding over her chicks.  It means to foster with tender care.  What an incredible thought this is as we think of the fact that this is a word that God has used to describe the love of Christ for His church. 

In the verses just preceding the words above we are told that “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.”  What incredible care this is! What attention to every need! What tender compassion and concern as He has given His best for us so that we can be the best we can possibly be. 

But it’s in the comparison that Ephesians 5 makes to the relationship of a husband to a wife that challenges me and hits me between the eyes today.  You see, Ephesians 5 is talking primarily about the love that a husband is to have for his wife.  It’s just as Christ cherishes the church that a husband is to cherish his wife.  Believe me, I don’t do that very well sometimes, and I need to do much, much better.  God is telling every husband regarding the wife He has given him as a very great and precious gift, “Cherish her!”  It’s a high calling and a sobering command, but it’s what the Lord expects of us.  It’s what He has shown us by His own example.  It’s this kind of love that we are to have for our spouse.  We are to “cherish her!”

May God help me to think of these words when I think of my wife.  May I not just be on the receiving end of the cherishing love of God. Rather, may God help me to be a vessel to show that same kind of love to my wife. It’s a very high calling, one that I miss all too often.  But it’s a message I need to hear, just like every other message that God has given me.