In last weeks Facts, We learned how to mutually accept each other as uniquely designed by God.
2) We have been committed to the same purpose and calling in life: Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3)
From before we met, we shared a common passion of advancing the Kingdom and Glory of God by winning the lost and discipling the saved: [Jesus] said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation… Go and make disciples of all nations(Mk. 16:15b; Matt 28:18b)
We understood that:
Marriage was not primarily about us, but about giving our lives to God in sacrificial service: Jesus: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. (Lk. 9:23, 24)
Ruth was to help me fulfill Gods call on my life. Observe this principle from Gods dealing with Adam and Eve: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the groundBe fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the groundThe LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of itThe LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable (adaptable, complimentary) for him (Gen. 1:26, 28b; 2:15, 18)
To fulfill our calling we clearly understood our biblical roles as husband and wife:
As Ruth husband:
– I am to provide for the family: If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (I Tim. 5:8)
– I am to furnish Ruth leadership: Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything (Eph. 5:22-24)
– I am to selflessly love her: Husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. (Eph. 5:28, 29 NKJV)
As my wife, Ruth is to:
– Submit to me: Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything (Eph. 5:22-24)
– Honor me: Let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly]. (Eph. 5:33b- Amp.)
– Make her primary focus at home: The older women likewise [are to admonish] the young women [to be} homemakers (Tit. 2:3-5 selected)