True Love
True Love
Husbands, love your wives and don’t be bitter against them. (Col. 3:19)
Do unto Others
When you are angry with your wife, you don’t typically feel like romancing her in that moment. But emotional love is not the kind of love Paul talks about in Colossians 3:19. The Greek word he uses is agape, which describes a love based on a decision or choice of the will rather than a feeling. While both emotional and physical love certainly play vital roles in a healthy marriage, men must cultivate a committed, unconditional, sacrificial love that stands firm even when we’re angry. That’s how Christ loved the church, and that’s how husbands are charged to love their wives. Agape love does not depend on the receiver’s actions; it looks to the highest good of the other, even if at your own expense (see 1 Cor. 13:4–7).
God’s Kind of Love
Our natural bent is to become bitter or angry when we feel wronged. Others might even tell us we have the right to be upset or take revenge. But Paul reminds us that even when a wife wrongs her husband, the husband never has permission to act unloving toward his wife.
God’s Word also tells us to forgive just as we have been forgiven by Christ (see Col. 3:13), and to “love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Consider that the next time you feel like lashing out or getting even.
Bottom Line
Ask God today to give you the supernatural ability to see your wife through His eyes and to love her with His love.