Complement: A 5-Day Devo for Womenنموونە

DAY 2 - Changed by God’s Love

Jesus’ love for you was sacrificial. He didn’t die for you because you’re such a good person or because His Father made him do it. No, Jesus died on a cross for you and your sins (and for me and my sins) because His love for us is so great that He would do anything to restore our relationship with the Father.

Anything.

All right, so that’s what Jesus’ love is like. A sacrificial love. An 'anything' love. That’s the love He demonstrated toward us. With Jesus’ brand of love as background, notice what He said our love is supposed to be like. The night before His arrest and crucifixion, He gave His disciples a “new commandment”: “ … love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).

“Just as I have loved you.” That’s the standard for how you and I are called to love our husbands. So if we truly want to be someone who looks more like Jesus every single day, here’s our shot at it, right out of the gate every morning: to love our husbands the same way Jesus has loved us.

So let’s get really practical about this. The main verses that come to mind when we think of love—the verses that go into such beautiful, hard work detail about what Jesus’ love is like—come from 1 Corinthians 13. If we want to be wives who love our husbands well—like Jesus loves us—here are the characteristics that should be found in us.

Love . . . is patient

Love . . . is kind

Love . . . is not envious

Love . . . is not boastful

Love . . . is not arrogant

Love . . . is not rude

Love . . . does not insist on its own way

Love . . . is not irritable

Love . . . is not resentful 

Love . . . does not rejoice at wrongdoing

Love . . . rejoices with the truth

Love . . . bears all things

Love . . . believes all things

Love . . . hopes all things

Love . . . endures all things.

If we are to be women who love our husbands the way Christ loves us, we need to take these words to the core of our soul and beg God for the strength to be these things to our men. Will we get it right all the time? Absolutely not. 

But love, as I said, is worth fighting for. It’s worth sacrificing for. Jesus is our teacher in all things love, and His love toward us was sacrificial. This means that if we are to emulate Him and do all these things, we should expect it to be a sacrifice. Love is not flippant and easy; it is costly and difficult. That’s what makes it so valuable.

Discuss with your spouse: 

• How do you view God’s love for you? How does your view affect the way you love your spouse?
• Since loving your spouse well is “costly and difficult,” what might it cost you to be a better lover of your spouse, loving him or her as Jesus loves you?