Ephesians 5:21 (NLT)
21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

That line comes before the wives submit, husbands always honor and do anything for your wife, including die to protect her.

That’s what relationships are supposed to look like. How different they are from reality. From Baby Mama’s and Daddy’s, to divorce rates above 50%, to impregnating as a form of manly conquest, it’s all jacked up.

Maybe, being counter cultural might be a good thing. Maybe, if we submitted to each other out of love, reverence, and respect first, instead of protecting “what’s ours” first, we might not have these issues. Maybe if we loved our mate as deeply as we loved ourselves and put them first, we might not have these issues. Maybe if we were other centered instead of self centered, we might not have these issues.

I’m on my third marriage. I know a little about what I’m talking about. I know about jacked up. I also know what does work now.

Maybe it’s time to admit that God’s plan actually has merit.

Proverbs 2:6 (NLT)
6 For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Exodus 15:11 (NLT)
11 “Who is like you among the gods, O Lord— glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, performing great wonders”?

So, brace yourself. Here’s the whole thing. Hopefully you’ve read the previous two blogs. Hopefully you’re ready to see the depth of God’s direction, His intensity of love, and His understanding of us.

Ephesians 5:21-33 (NLT)
Spirit-Guided Relationships: Wives and Husbands
21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.
25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body.
31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

This is the solution to jacked up.