Ephesians 5 Devotional

Love That Gives Itself Away

“and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.”Ephesians 5:2 (BSB)

Ephesians 5 opens with a startling command: imitate God, as his dearly loved children (5:1). Paul shows at once what that means: walk in love the way Christ loved us and offered himself to God for us (5:2). The call to turn from immorality and greed grows out of that sacrifice. Believers were once darkness, Paul says, but now they are light in the Lord (5:8).

The same self-giving love shapes the home. After calling all believers to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (5:21), Paul tells wives to submit to their husbands as to the Lord, and husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and laid down his life for her (5:22-25). Marriage, he says, speaks of a profound mystery about Christ and the church (5:32). The center of this chapter is not any one role but a Savior who gives himself to make his people holy and blameless (5:27). Whatever your place, your love is meant to echo his.

To think about: Where could your words or actions at home today reflect the self-giving love Christ has shown you?