Now, where Christ’s Spirit is, He will bring men from their altitudes and excellencies, and make them to stoop to serve the church, and account it an honour to be an instrument to do good. Christ was content to be accounted, not only a servant of God, but of the church.
~ Richard Sibbes, Volume 1, p. 433
Trust in God, who loves us in Christ. Let His Spirit pour the full force of His love into you by the sight of Christ on the cross, dying for sinners. Keep yourself in His love (Jude 21) and He will be the strength of your heart for those around you.
We are called to give ourselves up for our wives, caring for them as we care for own bodies (Ephesians 5:28). In this, we look to Christ who sacrifices Himself for our own selves (Ephesians 5:29-30). And if we are wifeless, let us be the best groomsmen of Christ, and care for and protect His Bride as well as we would for our own. Let God keep our hearts in humility through the overwhelming reality that He sees and cares for us, even in those times we feel that our wives, family, friends, and even our brothers and sisters in the church ignore or let us down.
Whatever ability or status God has given us, He has given these things to us so that we too may share in the same joy He looked to when He stooped down to save sinners. When Jesus looked to the cross and beyond, He looked to enjoying eternity with His Father and His Bride, the church, His body (Hebrews 12:2). Today, when we set ourselves to love our wives, our families, and to love His church, let us do so in the bright sunshine of His joy – the joy of our work today echoing into eternity.
As He pours His love into our hearts (Romans 5:5), let Him also pour it out through us to those He has given us to love today.
Standing Before God, This We Are and No More 