A HERO HAS A LOVE INTEREST THAT GETS PRIORITY
It seems that when a villain wants to truly wreak havoc, he pits the hero with a difficult choice between saving millions of people or saving the woman that he loves, knowing that this will tear the superhero apart even before he makes the decision to save his love interest, or push himself to the limits of what he believed he was capable of, and save both.
A hero’s love always gets priority. In every decision, he makes, the hero is thinking about how it will affect the woman that he loves. The writers often play with the concept of a hero’s ability to even have a love interest, and lately they flow with society and say that he can’t. And yet he continues to find a love interest in the next episode, because that is one of the conventions of a superhero. However, this is where my use of this part of the analogy will stop, because life is not a comic book, they are just written with inherent relate-able conventions.
Dad, you have a love interest. That’s how you came to be a hero. Love her. Make your wife the priority of your life. The reality of life, is that the world can take a back seat to your wife, and yes that even includes your children.
Ephesians 5:25-28, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water, with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”
It may seem odd that one of the best things you can do for your children is doing something for someone else, but the reality of the situation lies in this: your children learn what a healthy marriage relationship is meant to be, by watching you. If you love your wife, they will know what it means to love their wife, if the Lord grants them that blessing someday (and daughters will learn how a man should love her). Not to mention, the respect that a man is to show a woman becomes a consistent lesson that they cannot miss. They want your marriage to thrive, it gives them hope and security – especially in a world that does not value the sanctity of marriage.
*I know that there are men out there who are no longer (or never were) married to the mother of their child(ren)… I understand this reality and I invite you to come back Monday at 5:35 for the next post.
“WE ARE MEN OF ACTION…”
Dad… I challenge you to put your wife first! I’m going to give you permission right now:
It’s O.K. for your children to take 2nd place, to your wife, in your life on earth.
It’s actually healthy. Your spouse will be with you for the rest of your life (Lord willing), while your children will grow and then find lives of their own. How better for you to teach the building blocks of a healthy interpersonal adult relationship (and how to work out the problems of that healthy relationship) than to model it every day right in front of them. They need to see you function as a couple, or in God’s eyes, as ONE.
You can do it! Before you C.A.S.T. your love on your children today, make your wife a priority!