How To Be A GODLY Wife (Series): SHOES!!! .....To Fill.

Ephesians 5:25-30
New Living Translation (NLT)
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.[a] 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.

We’re still driving down the “Godly Wife” road. Our journey is near over and I hope that we all have learned something. This passage brings home the point of how wives are again “to be”. There’s no clearer comparison of what the Lord expects than this passage. Let’s explore!

I’m going to take you back to English class for a moment. Remember we used to do analogies?

Dog is to Cat as Snake is to? Rat, right, rat!

Well lets look at the analogy made in this verse: Christ is to Husband as Church is to Wife! WOW, talk about big shoes to fill. Just as the husband is admonished to be like Christ in the way they care for us, if we flip that coin, we see that we as wives aught to be as the Church! What does that mean exactly? Well, if we are to be compared to the Church, Christ expects the Church to be:

• Holy
• Clean
• Without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish
• Without fault

Now, does this mean that we as wives will be perfect? Absolutely not. We will make mistakes. But guess what the Church does when it makes mistakes? We turn, repent, ask for forgiveness and NEVER do the offending thing again. The church does it with Christ, we do it within our relationship with our husband.

Anyway from these verses we see that the Lord expects us to carry ourselves a certain way. If our husbands are charged to give up their lives for us, they need to be confident that they will give their lives for a wife that is noble and trustworthy. They should know they have a wife that has a good reputation.  He should know he will lay down his life for a wife that he doesn't hear rumors about, or even a wife that he suspects is tipping out on him. If he is going to give his life for his wife, I would expect that he would know that he is giving up his life for a wife that is honorable and untainted and most importantly, a wife that belongs to only him and her heart belongs to no one else.

After all, that is what the TRUE church is all about. A church that is loyal to Christ alone and doesn't run after the false gods and promises of this world. The TRUE church is the one that can stand before Him unashamed because they have done ALL that He has asked with a servants heart, they have separated themselves from the things of this world and have chosen to live holy and blameless.

Wow, what a comparison. What shoes to fill. What a privileged and honor to be called, a wife!

So, all of you new wives, new wives to be and even old wives – take a look at yourself and see if you can fit this:

Proverbs 31:10-12

New Living Translation (NLT)

A Wife of Noble Character
10 [a]Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
    She is more precious than rubies.
11 Her husband can trust her,
    and she will greatly enrich his life.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.

Amen.