MY MARRIAGE IS HONOURABLE
MY MARRIAGE IS HONOURABLE
A DAILY DEVOTIONAL
TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2024
NIYI ODUNSI
TRUE LOVE
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Ephesians 5:25
The word “Love” is arguably the most abused word in the world. A woman can say she loves her husband, she loves chocolate and she loves her make-up. A man can say he loves his wife, he loves Manchester City and he loves his car. And you really can’t blame them. The world is confused about the meaning of the word “Love”.
The Oxford Dictionary says love is a feeling of deep affection. It also says love is a great interest and pleasure in something. Unfortunately when God commands a Husband to love his wife in our theme scripture, He’s not saying a husband should have a deep feeling of affection for his wife or a husband should have great interest and pleasure in his wife.
The word “Love” in our theme verse is the Greek word “Agapao” and its just one of the Greek words translated into the English word “love” in the new Testament. Some other words are Phileo and Eros.These three Greek words mean three different things entirely and I will explain them in detail over the course of the coming days.
Generally speaking, Agapao (Agape) is what is known as the God kind of Love, divine Love or sacrificial Love. Phileo is what is generally referred to as Friendship or brotherly love and Eros is sensual or physical love. One of the main reasons why more than half of the marriages contacted worldwide end up failing, even amongst Christians is because folks don’t even know these words exist.
While these three kinds of “Love” are required to make a marriage successful, while a marriage can succeed with Agape alone, it cannot succeed on just Phileo or Eros without Agape. A marriage based on just Phileo or just Eros cannot thrive.
What’s a successful marriage? If there was reincarnation, (there isn’t) would you choose to be married to your spouse all over again? We will continue this discussion tomorrow, as we examine Agape closely.
PRAYER
Father, I thank you for your Love that’s she abroad in my heart. I thank you for teaching me about “Agape” and I ask for the Grace to walk in this all important Love towards my spouse. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY
Ephesians 5:25, Ephesians 5:28, Ephesians 5:33