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Ephesians 5:28. “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.” There is a clear principle in this verse that we often overlook.  We’re so inundated with nonsense about self-esteem:  You can’t love someone else until you learn to love yourself is the motto of that movement. Yet God, Who created man and knows all about him, is assuming here that man does love himself.  Understand that I’m using the word  man in the sense of mankind. It includes women.

As a rule, the men I know take pretty good care of themselves.  They make sure they are dressed; they make sure they are fed; they make sure they are properly groomed before leaving the house for work each day. They take care not to be in accidents; they live in comfortable homes; they manage to find time to see a doctor when they need to.

The truth is, we love ourselves to take care of our physical bodies. God would not have told men to love their wives as they love  their own bodies if men  hated themselves and gave no time to their own care.

So, men.  Do you make sure your wife is fed, properly clothed, comfortable, safe?  Do you see that she gets to a doctor when she needs to?  Do you give her physical well-being the same time and care that you give your own?

God says that when you take care of your wife, you are taking care of yourself.  This speaks to the one-flesh principle.  When a man and woman marry, they become one flesh. A woman can cause endless grief to her husband if she is shrewish and selfish. A man can destroy his wife’s joy if he neglects her or abuses her. And when they act that way, they are hurting themselves, because they are one flesh.

Take care of your wives. They are a part of you. They are intricately bound up with you physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually.  Take care of your wife, and you take care of yourself.






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