Allow me to begin by saying there are truths here regardless of your marital status.
They can be applied to many other relationships, no matter what they are.
We talk about love all the time.
Odds are every one of us uses the word on a daily basis.
So much, in fact, it loses its meaning.
We say we love various foods.
We love music.
We love our homes.
We love our families.
We love our cars.
We even say we love a certain pair of shoes.
But what is genuine love as it was intended to be?
How should it be expressed?
There are some who would insist it means to applaud another person's beliefs, words, and actions, even if they are different from ours.
There are some who believe it's all about acceptance.
After all, they'll say, your truth is your truth, and mine is mine.
Well, math is absolute truth.
If you choose to live in a world where your truth means 2 + 2 = 5, and I choose to live in a world where my truth is 2 + 2 = 4, suffice it to say my world will contain superior construction.
So, what about love?
What is sincere, genuine love, and how should it be expressed?
The apostle Paul writes the following:
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians - 4:31-32.
Living this way toward others must become both a decision and a commitment.
This isn't a one-time occurrence.
It is a mindset we adhere to, sometimes on an hour by hour basis depending upon who we're dealing with.
If we reach a point where we've been able to do so, we're only at the starting gate.
Only from that foundation are we able to show true, sincere love to others.
The key part of the scripture above is "...forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
This carries over into Paul's advice on how husbands are to treat their wives.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." - Ephesians 5:25-27
That, my friends, is true, genuine, sincere love.
What wife wouldn't want to be loved like that?
What human being wouldn't want to be loved like that?
So, you might ask, how would doing so change the world?
Simple.
A wife, knowing she is loved to that extent, will naturally feel empowered to become everything God created her to be.
She will not feel worthless, neglected, or beaten down.
She will instead feel strong, capable, and adored.
As a result, their children will witness the love shown between their mother and father, and they will want the same for themselves.
Friends will see it.
Neighbors will see it.
Communities will see it.
They may not even fully understand where it came from, but they'll know its there.
The best part is you don't need to be married to show that kind of love to others, and just as is true within a Godly marriage, people will notice.
People will want that for themselves.
They will want that for their families.
They will want that for their communities.
They will want that for their countries.
Finally, they will want that for their world.
