May 10, 2011
Devotion
Ephesians 5:25 “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her …”
When a man marries a woman, he really only has a small idea of what he is getting himself into. I have been a pastor now for 27 years. That means I have officiated at hundreds of marriage services and spent over a thousand hours in premarital counseling. I have made a sincere effort to help couples who plan to marry to understand the great commitment that is required in order for a marriage to work for 50 years. But they only half listen to me. They think they are so in love they can withstand any challenges that will come along. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians really sets the bar of commitment very high with this one verse. Today my commitment to my wife Martina was tested. It was not a big deal, but then most of the challenges to a relationship usually aren’t really all that big. We were getting to the end of our day of riding. It had been our most challenging day because the hills were now mountains and the up hills were one to 12 mile stretches. I was struggling on the up hills to average a speed of 4-6 mph. The distance to cover today was 78 miles. Out of pure ego I wanted to make the entire ride. Climb the mountains and ride the distance, just so that I could say to myself, I did it! As we were getting to the last 15 miles I had to start pushing myself real hard, but I was determined. When there was just 5 miles left I realized, I had not heard from Martina on the walkie talkie in a long time. So, much to my chagrin I stopped and waited. And waited. And waited. Now I was getting frustrated because I was running out of time, I would not be able to complete the ride, and I so wanted to. But I couldn’t raise Martina on the walkie talkie or the cell phone. Something had to be wrong. Decision time. Ride back to check on Martina or finish the ride (yea me!) and hope she shows up eventually? I rode back to check on Martina. Yea God for using the big stick on my big ego. It turns out Martina had stopped and was looking for me.
Marriage is always about sacrificing for each other, it’s the only way. But when you do it, when it becomes the norm in your marriage, the payback over 50 years is worth it.
Prayer: Father in heaven, thank you for loving me, by giving me a loving spouse. Please help me to honor my spouse as Christ did the church, by giving my life for to them. Amen.
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