21 February, 2021
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-27
Eternal Father, you are our God of Righteousness, infallible in absolute perfection and all the peoples of the earth, in all the holy places, assemble and praise and glorify your name, for you have rescued us from the fruitless abyss of darkness, purified us and clothed us in arrays of righteousness. We profess our everlasting faith in and commitment to your will in a humble submission of obedience.
Christ has redeemed your people and with your new covenant has established his church here on earth. He is the head and we, his members, in the mystical body of Christ. As relationships between husband and wife are forged with love and need purification and sanctification, necessary to retain them as holy and unblemished unions in the sight of God, husbands are exhorted to purify their wives in life yielding words that draw them in a close relationship with Christ.
This helps in maintaining the sanctity of their union, in much the same way as Christ gave up his life, washing his people, the Church and congregation of God, with his blood, so they could stand righteous, seeking God’s will for their lives and adhering to his word.
Husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies, washing away impurities in their relationship and caring for them just as Christ does the Church. Lord God, our ministry on earth is to radiate the light of Christ, who abides in us through the Holy Spirit and we need to project that light, as good Christians, to all our brethren who are yet in darkness, sheltering them in Christ’s body, the Church. Help us in our evangelical ministration through Christ Jesus. Amen