Devotion for Thursday, March 18, 2021

“For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,  because we are members of His body” (Ephesians 5:29-30).

We know how to take care of ourselves.  We each may do it in our own way, but we do it none-the-less.  As we nourish and cherish ourselves, so we ought to see our spouse as a part of us.  Many see the other as chattel, but it ought not to be so amongst you who follow the Lord.  Come into His way of thinking and live according to the Father’s will and know what is right and good.

Lord, the world is contrary to what You say.  It wants us to nourish ourselves without concern for the other.  You have intended, in part, that we learn to love as You love, and that means cherishing the other as we do ourselves.  Lead me Lord, to come to the place where I know what this means.  Lead me into Your love, learning to think of the other and to do what is right simply because it is right.

Lord Jesus, You lived, laughed, and loved as we all do while on earth, but with a mission.  You have given each of us who follow You a mission.  Lead me in the mission You have given me so that I would love those close to me and my neighbors as You love them.  Guide me to know that only in You is this possible, but that in You it is not only possible, but can and will happen.  Amen.