Marriage & the Bride of Christ

If marriage is supposed to be a picture of Jesus Christ and the church, the bride of Christ…what does that mean for my marriage in everyday life?  How is that reflected in how I treat my husband?
 
In love…do I hope all things, believe all things and bear all things? 
 
Am I patient, kind and gentle?
 
Do I lay aside my prerogative and put my spouse first? 
 
Do I treat my spouse as though God the Father is my Father-in-law?
 
Do I show respect and honor?  Not only when my husband is present…but also when I’m out with friends?  Or do join in the conversation and bag on my husband?
 
Do I remain pure…in my thoughts and in my heart?  Or do I entertain lustful or adulterous thoughts? 
 
Do I pray for my husband every day?  Do I pray for my will or God’s will for him?
 
Do I encourage my husband’s relationship with God through Bible study, prayer and fellowship with godly Christian men? 
 
Do I build him up or tear him down?  Do I believe in him and his capabilities or do I only see that which is wrong?
 
Do I see him growing in Christ and encourage that?
 
Do I relax, trust and believe in my husband, confident that he is capable and able?
 
Do I believe in the permanence of marriage?  Just as God is a covenant maker and keeper…so too our marriage is permanent? 
 
Do I believe that our marriage is transcendent?  That marriage is bigger than us as a couple or us as individuals?  That it can be a tool in God’s hand to witness to the world?
 
I don’t know about you…but that seems like such an impossible list to live out because of my sinful human nature.  But praise God…He is patient and has given me His Holy Spirit.  Gradually, He is conforming me into the image and likeness of Christ.  When I resist it's painful...yet when I yield it's hard, but at the same time good.  When I have a set back and fall…He picks me up and sets me on the straight and narrow path again.  

(Note...picture is from our wedding pictures take by Sherry Hebestreit)