As Christ Loved The Church

The Bible instructs husbands to love their wife as Christ loved the church.

There is that word "as", again!

And once again, I have probably misread it. Again, I have read it meaning "to the degree" (i.e. Love your wife as much as Christ loved the church). However, I am now considering the meaning with respect to "in the manner" (i.e. Love your wife in the same way Christ loved the church).

In what manner did Christ love the church?

He became human for her, he became a servant for her, and he died for her while she was still in a state that could never understand and appreciate his sacrifice.

People often focus upon wives submitting to their husbands. However, this other side of that same scripture provides a context. Taken together, marriage emerges as a mutual, self-sacrificing servanthood with potential for extraordinary beauty. This is not a struggle for power or domination. Nor is it even a perpetual bargain over how to split things evenly. This is giving yourself over completely in loving trust, only to find another eagerly doing the same.

Christ asks, how can you love Him whom you have not seen, if you do not love your neighbor, whom you have seen? How much more could we ask, how can you give loving service to God, His church and the world, if you cannot give it to the closest person in your life?