Fulfilling Your Marital Roles - Ephesians 5:18-33

God has designed marriage to be a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman for the purpose of reflecting and glorifying Jesus Christ. To be successful in this endeavor each spouse must be intentional in fulfilling their marital roles. There are no short cuts to achieving this. It takes commitment, dedication, and intentionality.

Fulfilling one's marital roles is crucial in maintaining a successful marriage. Marriages often fail when one or both spouses are not living according to their designated roles. However, for a marriage to succeed those roles must be adhered to. The husband was designed to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of his family. The wife was designed to meet both the mental and emotional needs of her family. This is no way suggesting that husbands and wives cannot contribute to all four needs mentioned above because at times they can be intertwined as they seek to fulfill their roles within the family unit.

The Apostle Paul admonishes the Ephesian church about the importance of maintaining a healthy marriage. The marriage relationship should serve as a picture of the relationship Christ Jesus has with His beloved church. One key element in successfully maintaining a biblical marriage is being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). This is the catalyst of being able to grow as one flesh within the marital relationship. Through this empowerment of the Holy Spirit, husbands and wives will worship together because of their high view of Scripture (vs. 19). They will both express a heart of gratitude as they submit one to another due to their holy fear of God (vs. 20-21). Wives will willingly submit to their husband's leadership because they know that this will please the Lord. Being filled with the Holy Spirit gives them a keen insight into the relationship between Christ and HIs church and this compels them to serve only their husbands (vs. 22-24).

Husbands must be intentional in loving their wives with every fiber of their being because they know that this will honor the Lord. He is to be her savior and protector as he teaches her the word of God every day. By it they can both be cleansed from sin and live a righteous life that brings glory and honor to their Redeemer. A husband reveals respect for himself as he displays genuine love toward his wife. He is driven by an insatiable desire to see her grow in the grace and knowledge of her Savior. He will pursue a one flesh mindset at all cost because he recognizes that this is God's mandate for biblical marriage. The husband is to love only his wife, and the wife is to always respect her husband (vs. 25-33).

Another key element in maintaining a successful marriage is being saturated with the word of God (Colossians 3:16). This passage links the benefits to a flourishing marriage to the power of the indwelling word. The Holy Spirit uses the word of God to draw us closer to Lord so that we can be conformed day by day into His image (Romans 8:29). Fulfilling our marital roles is essential in raising godly children who will honor their parents (Ephesians 6:1-4; Colossians 3:20-21). Maintaining a biblical marriage is not just for the spouses benefit only. It should also be for the benefit of the children who are raised within that family unit. By living out these principles, marriages can flourish into families who will reap the benefits of living gospel-centered lives. This should be the goal of every husband and wife who claim to have been set free by the all powerful gospel of Jesus Christ. My prayer is that you both experience the blessings that are associated with being filled with the word and Spirit of God so that your family can flourish that way God intended it to.