Though Ephesians 5:22-33 is considered a controversial portion of Scripture in today's modern world, Flanders shows throughout her book that this is the way marriage was designed to be by our Creator from the moment He created Eve for Adam. Sharing her personal experience as a wife and mother, the author indicates the many benefits if you embrace God's purpose for passion in marriage.
Too often I fear this portion of Ephesians is maligned and used to bring division into a marriage. Here is what it says:
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 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. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Each person has responsibilities to the other. A wife is supposed to provide for her husband's physical needs and defer to him as head of the family. However, a husband is charged with an even greater responsibility: to take care of his wife and love her as much as he loves himself. In this world of self-satisfaction and being told to consider what we need first and then worry about everyone else, this is not a popular sentiment. But it does make one wonder how different relationships would be if every husband and wife were doing their best to follow Scripture.
What Flanders points out so well in Love Your Husband Love Yourself is that this Biblical view of marriage is not easy. It takes commitment, dedication, and most of all--prayer. Toward the end of the book, she is talking about marriage being a marathon, not a hundred-yard dash. This is so true. We need to keep our eye on the goal and keep moving forward.
If you've struggled with accepting God's purpose for passion in marriage or if you would like to explore more on this topic, Love Your Husband Love Yourself is an excellent resource.
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Prescott Publishing (February 14, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982626908
ISBN-13: 978-0982626900
I received a copy of this book from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.
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