"As in the days of your coming forth from the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things.  The nations shall see [God's deliverance] and be ashamed of all their might [which cannot be compared to His]." - The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

We are to be ashamed of our love, fidelity, forgiveness and grace in comparison to His.

Charles Spurgeon once wrote: "The Christian should take nothing short of Christ for his model. Under no circumstances ought we to be content unless we reflect the grace which was in him. The Christian is to look upon the portrait of Christ Jesus, and he is to paint according to that copy."

Husbands, what does Christ's love for His bride (laying down His life, living considerately, in intelligent recognition, protecting and cherishing; cleansing her with the Word, nourishing what's important to her) look like in comparison to yours?

Wives, what does the churches' submission, adaptation and reverence for her Husband (to respect, defer to, revere him-to honor, esteem, appreciate, prize and adore him--to admire, praise, be devoted to, deeply love, and enjoy Him) look like in comparison to yours?

Love walks in the garden where your lover has failed.

One of the hardest things to do in life is to come to the stark reality that our failures cannot be compared to His immeasurable love, forgiveness and grace.

Micah continued: "Who is a God like You, Who forgives iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retains not His anger forever, because He delights in mercy and loving-kindness. He will again have compassion on us; He WILL subdue and tread underfoot our iniquities. You WILL cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (7:18-19.)

God's desire to love is FAR greater than His desire to contend with you.

He subdues and treads our sins (underfoot) to satisfy the great and intense love He has for us.  That word "tread" means: to step, walk or trample, so as to press, crush or injure something underfoot; it is to tread a path.

In the appointed time, Christ died for the ungodly and treaded the iniquities of those (mankind) He loved. 

Whatever "kind" of men or women have failed you in life, you can tread a path through the hurts and disappointments of past offenders.

You can love "as Christ" did despite what others have done to you.  

He was manifested to put the hurts, injustices, betrayals and sins of others under your feet AND oppress, disable, crush and humiliate the lingering effect they have had on your life.

If you don't put the sins of others (against you) under your feet, you will be tormented, bruised and injured by them forever. 

And you and I were not created to be under the weight of anything but the love, blessing and glory of God.   

Spurgeon ended his Morning, Evening Devotional on March 20 with a great word to husbands:

"The true Christian is to be such a husband as Christ was to his church. The love of a husband is special. The Lord Jesus cherishes for the church a peculiar affection, which is set upon her above the rest of mankind: "I pray for them, I pray not for the world." The elect church is the favourite of heaven, the treasure of Christ, the crown of his head, the bracelet of his arm, the breastplate of his heart, the very centre and core of his love. Jesus has a delighted love towards his spouse: He prizes her affection, and delights in her with sweet complacence. Believer, you wonder at Jesus' love; you admire it-are you imitating it? In your domestic relationships is the rule and measure of your love-"even as Christ loved the church?"

This should strike the very core of our belief and faith as Christian men in "comparison" to Christ.

Peter wrote this in a final word to wives:

"IN LIKE manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives"  (1 Pet. 3:1)

"So that even if any do not obey the Word of God" does not merely suggest that Peter was talking about wives that were unequally yoked; he was also talking to wives that were equally yoked but had husbands that "did not obey" the Word of God in a particular decision or area of their life (or marriage.)

He was showing them that conversation, discussion and debate were not as powerful as actions; that they could win their husbands with a continued respect, honor and reverence for them even when they failed.  In other words, they could restore his broken leadership in the home even when they did not deserve it (especially when there was genuine repentance.)

An ancient writer wrote: "Blessed is the man that hath a virtuous wife, for the number of his days shall be double. A virtuous woman rejoiceth her husband, and he shall fulfill the years of his life in peace. An harlot shall be accounted as spittle; but a married [virtuous] woman is a tower against death to her husband."

Husbands and wives, we need each other.

Today, tread over the enemy (that sin or destructive habit) that keeps destroying your dreams and relationships.

Marvelous things can still happen in that relationship.

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