Reflection of God's Love - Caring for your husband and family should be a joy and reflect the heart of a servant. Forgive quickly, not keeping a record of wrongs. Draw strength from the Word (ability to weather circumstances and minister healing and wholeness). Use words and actions toward your husband and family to nurture, never destroy.
a. 1 John 4:19-21
19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
b. John 13:35
35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
My Notes : I think the best way to walk this out is to truly understand what love is. Ephesians 5:2 Says, "and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
So we must remember that Christ's love was sacrificial. We have got to die to ourselves daily. We cannot walk around with a Me attitude thinking about what we "deserve", etc. That's not godliness. Christ was selfless and we are to imitate Him. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Tells us what love is: "4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails." We need to all take a personal assessment and see what of those things we are not, and ask the Lord to help us fix our weak areas.
Also, I think it is VERY important to learn you husband's love language. It has helped me TREMENDOUSLY. Mine is Words of Affirmation and Patrick's is Acts of Service. Which means he doesn't receive or give love the same way that I do, so if I want to show that I love him I'll get a lot farther by doing something nice for him, than by saying something nice to him. It also helped me realize that when he's doing all the things for me that he does, he's showing his love for me.
Here is a brief synopsis of what each love language is: http://www.5lovelanguages.com/learn-the-languages/the-five-love-languages/
and Here are some quizes and assessments you can take to figure out what your languages are: http://www.5lovelanguages.com/assessments/love/
Finally, 1 Peter 4:8 says, "8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." We should not be pointing out all of their faults to them or anyone else. We need to show love to them regardless of their faults and we need to make sure to focus on the things that we love about them.
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