Among these books was the incredible book Sex God by contemporary Christian author Rob Bell. Don't dismiss it or stereotype the book because of its title. The entire book is full of deep yet bite-sized meditations about the nature of God and the nature of humanity and about all the spiritual implications of human sexuality.
I wanted to share with you one of my top five favorite passages of the book. I'll probably share another later.
"If [the husband] really thinks he’s the head, then he would surrender his desires and wants and plans. He would die to his need to be in control and do whatever it takes to serve her, to make sure she has everything she needs. He would die to himself so that she could live.
He would lay down his life for her, like Jesus laid down his life for the church.
This is submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
How would she respond if it were crystal clear to her that her husband was placing her needs ahead of his own?
What if he had a habit of this?
What if she knew without a shadow of a doubt that his love for her was so great that he would give his life for her in the blink of an eye?"
This type of self-sacrificial love is so rare, but is therefore doubly powerful when it does occur. I am nearly finished with a narrative essay that I am writing for my advanced composition class. In this class, every writing assignment that we turn in will be about the subject of love. In fact, Lewis' Four Loves is one of our textbooks. Anyway, I am writing about the instant in which I knew that my now-fiance's love for me was really something spectacular. And it was a moment in which I realized that he truly grasped what it means for a husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church.
He showed me that he made a habit of putting my needs before his own, of giving everything he could to me, even when I could give nothing back. It is a humbling thing to be loved in such a way, and I am grateful to experience this kind of love not only from my Savior, but also from my man.
I am tremendously blessed.
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