The Spirit of Christ Toward His People

The Spirit of Christ Toward His People

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her….

Ephesians 5:25

Christ is not only the ‘Savior of the Body,’ as we have been considering for the past few days. He is also the Great Pattern for us in our normal relationships. As Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, sets forth the manner in which the culture of the home should operate, He expounds the truth regarding Christ’s attitude and behavior toward His people, the Church. The first thing he mentions is the spirit of Christ toward His people. This serves as our text today. ‘…Christ, also loved the church….’ Let us consider how long Christ has loved His people. He declares in Jeremiah, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.’ How does this love look? I Corinthians tells us, ‘Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails….’  Christ does not expect us to behave in a certain way, with a certain spirit, without actively demonstrating that in His Own behavior. He is no, ‘do as I say, not as I do,’ example. How much does Christ love us? The remainder of the verse, which we will, in the Mercy of God, contemplate over the next few days, shows us the extent of Christ’s Love to us and the lengths to which He would go to prove that Love to us. For today, let us dwell upon this spirit which Christ has toward us, and its’ implications to us.

Our most Gracious and Loving Christ,
we rejoice in Your Unfailing Goodness to us.
We praise You, that Your Love never fails,
and that You pursue us unto the very end.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning