Marriage, Part 3

Well, good morning again, brethren, and as I've already mentioned, I'm very thankful to be able to be up here and see you this morning and be able to share this Sabbath with you. And it's actually a delight for me to drive up here. I know that some of you have mentioned that, you know, it's a long ways, but that really doesn't make any difference because it's nice. You've got Knights Road, and you can see all of the rain and everything that has happened yesterday and the flooding. It's just amazing to me to be able to do that. And I, of course, like to talk to God. You know, that's a good quiet place for me to do that, especially as I'm heading this direction and on the Sabbath. And I have a sermon prepared today, and I've got seven pages of sermon, and I don't know if I'll get through any of them, because I was thinking more so about what it is that, you know, we're studying what we talked about last weekend. And I know that last week, I went over some information that to me was, I felt it was revealing. I felt it was possibly something that I've not really understood well, maybe not understood at all, and certainly haven't applied very well. And yet I know, at least I hope, if you think back to the last week and if you were here, that we focused on Ephesians 5 verse 33. And, of course, that says, each of you, you husbands, however, should love your wives as yourself, and each wife should respect her husband. Now that, again, I see a connection there in that verse that I don't know that I'd seen before. A connection between love and respect. A connection between those, either words, those feelings, those concepts that are living. They're alive! This actually reveals something about God. It reveals something for all of us. And I, like I said, I intended to cover much more information here, and some of this is in the book that I mentioned, Love and Respect, by Emerson Eggerich. And I certainly would say that if you have opportunity to see that book and to read it, it is able to go through some things that I think are extremely beneficial.

But I also want to remind you, as we thought about that book, that one verse, and about the idea of the connection between love and respect, that he also pointed out, again, something that's extremely important, and that involves the needs of a wife and the needs of a husband.

He writes about these, and again, I mean, he's using the Bible as a basis for what he writes, and some of the stuff is things that he's come up with. And some of them are, you know, maybe a little further reaching than what I might say that I could prove from the Bible, but clearly, you know, he points out from some research differences that God created in men and women, and in husbands and wives, that we can be completely oblivious to.

We can be just mindlessly going through, you know, our own thing and not think about the needs of our husband or the needs of our wife. And yet, I think that we should say that that's a serious responsibility. And of course, it's a serious responsibility to those of us who want to know the Word of God and who want to do the Word of God. I'd like for us to look at Matthew 25, because in Matthew 25, you see Jesus as the conclusion of statements that he is making to his disciples.

He's actually given them a lot of instructions about the end of the age, the time that we live in. We certainly feel we live in a time when the world is in chaos, the upset conditions from nation to nation, the political chicanery, the confusion, the deception, the distrust.

That's just right here, you know, what's going on around the world. I mean, that's what we are so bombarded with at all times. And Jesus gave several other parables, actually here in chapter 25. He gave the parable of the bridesmaids and the parable of the talents. And then finally, he concludes in chapter 25 verse 31 with the return of Jesus, the Son of Man comes in verse 31, in his glory, and all the angels with him will sit on that throne of glory.

He talks about a time of judgment. He talks about how it is that people are viewed. And of course, he then shows that, well, there's some viewed in a positive way. He calls them sheep. I think that's probably also an illustration of what we should be. And then he says those who would not be viewed very favorably as the goats. I don't know that it seems like the goats get a bad rap here. You know, goats, per se, I don't know, are all that terrible. Goats are used for a lot of good things. But the comparison is clear, you know, the sheep and the goats. And yet he asks the question down on the righteous answer in verse 37, and it says, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and we gave you food, and when we saw you thirsty and we gave you something to drink, and when we saw you were a stranger and welcomed you and were naked, and when did we do any of that?

He said, that's what you've been doing. And of course, his answer, the king will answer and say, truly, I tell you in verse 40, just as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, one of the least of these who were the members of my family. I think we could also say one of the most closest and intimate people of my family in my marriage, my wife or my husband.

Just as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me. To here he points out how that we interact with others, how we note the needs of others and try to meet those needs as we are able. That's very significant. That's very important. That's important to be able to have the blessing.

That's in verse 34. It says, Come, you blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Well, how important is it that I see the needs of my wife and try to meet those needs? And actually, I can know about them, and I can see where I don't meet those needs. I can see where I am not fully able or maybe I don't yet even want to fully meet her needs. And maybe she's learning to understand my needs and to try to fulfill those.

But I think this verse in Matthew 25 is applicable. I pointed out to you just some of the facts last week, and I hope that we can think a little bit about applying the information. And certainly, it does tie together with the relationship that the church has to Jesus Christ. You read that in Ephesians 5, and that is clearly tied together with what Paul had to say in Ephesians 5.

And he mentions how that he's writing about husbands and wives, but he says, I'm talking about a mysterious thing to most people because it deals with how Christ is toward the church, the type of love that he has for the church, a limitless love, an unrestricted love, an understanding and a concern for the church that is beyond most of our understanding. So I don't claim to understand it myself.

I see that that clearly is what he expresses and was willing to express even in his death for my sense. But also on the converse of that, you know, how the church, how those of us who are Christian, how the church shows respect and desire to please an understanding of what, in a sense, what are the needs of Christ? Well, he would love for us to take on his mind. He would love for us to grow in the divine nature. He would love for us to share in a divine nature that he and the Father share all the time.

And yet, when you think about Christ and the Father, as he even addresses the Father, he says, I'm willingly in subjection to the Father because that is the way for the children to learn.

And so the whole ideas of love and respect, they probably go far beyond our marriage.

And yet, in many ways, our marriage is given to us. Marriage is given to mankind, and a Christian marriage is given to us as we embrace Jesus Christ and the Word of God. He enables us to grow in a nature and in an outlook and in meeting the needs of others that we may never, never even think about outside of that. And so I think it's good. I read to you last week one of the research studies that had been done. Let me see if I can find that. Dr. John Gottman. Again, this is out of the book, Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerich. And this doctor had done research and had spent 20 years studying 2,000 couples who'd been married for 20 to 40 years. They're the same partner. So they was talking to people who had been seemingly successful in their marriages, and he was doing that over a long period of time. And he said these people came from different backgrounds and widely different occupations and lifestyles, but one thing was similar. And one thing was similar.

He also said that there was a strong undercurrent of two basic ingredients which were love and respect. And of course that's why he put that study in here to support what he was teaching out of the Bible, of course out of it in this book. But he said the one thing that was similar was the tone of their conversation. It's reflected in our, our heart is reflected in our words. If we're really coming to understand the needs of a husband or wife, and we desire to meet those needs with the love that wives most need from their husbands, and the respect that husbands most need from wives, then if we're asking God to change our heart, if we're asking him to change the way I am, the selfish way that I am, and to help me truly be interested in and meeting the needs of the very closest least of these my brethren, then you know that I'm going to be successful. I'm going to be asking God for the right things, and I know that as we do, as we ask God to help us do things that might even not be very intuitive to us, I'd say they'd almost not be intuitive to us because we're different. Husbands and wives are different, and so showing respect in the way it's describing it for wives, and then showing love the way it describes for husbands, that may not be the normal thing, the natural thing. That may be a godly thing.

A godly thing is a pretty important thing to focus on. And I know, as I mentioned last week, recognizing and accepting God-given traits and differences in men and women, we should be doing that. We should grow in that understanding.

And yet it doesn't preclude the ability to change our own patterns and habits that may be keeping us from having a thriving marriage. That's what I'd like to just focus on today, how we apply the principles that we see revealed, how we are motivated to do it. Isn't it time to do that? I don't know what's going to happen in the next months and years ahead, but it's clearly time. And of course, we want to focus on the way that we can see and then meet the needs of our mate. So I'd like to go through just a few of the verses. Again, I know that all of you are familiar with these, and I'm not going to spend time, I don't think, I don't have a lot of time to spend because there are other things that I want to mention, but in Ephesians 5, you find a section that we focused on last time. And it says in verse 21, be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Let's just let these words guide our thoughts as to how God wants me to be. Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.

For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be in everything of their husbands. And husbands, in verse 25, love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Those are amazing concepts. And he goes ahead to read about how it is that Christ loves the church. And of course, then he concludes in verse 33, Each of you husbands, however, should love your wives as yourself, and a wife should respect her husband. See, that's a section that all of us have read. I certainly have read it over and over again, and I probably tried to talk about it over and over again. I don't know that I really understood what that's talking about. Is that actually, and even in my Bible, there are a bunch of headings, different sections. This one says the Christian household. The household that desires to involve Christ and God in their marriage, either husband or wife, or both husbands and wife. And so it indicates to me something that is probably even beyond the norm. Many people could learn to live together. They could learn to, in a sense, love each other and have a family, but they may not learn the love and respect that we are to learn as members of the family. Members of the family that God wants to glorify.

And he wants us to have the love that the Father has for all of us, and he wants us to have the respect that Christ has toward his Father. See, he says, I'm voluntarily in subjection.

How he can do that, I have no idea, but that's what it said. He can do it. He did it. It wasn't just that he came to the earth. It wasn't just that he was sent to the earth, and he was the one who was sent. He was the one who took on a frail human form, the one who really knows what it's like to be human, the one who knows how limited we are and how we fail, how inept we are at times, and certainly who knows some of the suffering that we go through. Perhaps he knows that far better than I do yet, because all of us. I mean, but his example was simply being respectful to the Father. He said he was equal with God, but he voluntarily was in subjection. Let's go on to Colossians 3, because you find these statements kind of reflected. I'd like for us to think about this love and respect connection not solely just to be, what could we say, played out or to be worked out or to be grown into in our marriage. But it has to do with our relationship with God, our relationship of love and respect with the Father and His Son. In Colossians 3, verse 18, and verse 19, it says, wives be subject to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. And husbands love your wives and never treat them harshly. Now again, I've read that before. I think it says, embittered or something. What does it say in the New King James? Somebody have that. Do not be bitter toward them. You know, this translation says it a little differently. And actually, it actually probably probably conveys a little more the concept that, well, if I'm really going to love my wife, then I'm not going to create an embittered situation by even my own inadequacy. I'm not going to do that. It says, don't treat them harshly in this translation. And I think that that is, again, a significant... let's look at 1 Corinthians 7, because this actually deals with the situation. And of course, Paul is addressing a wide range of things here in 1 Corinthians 7, and many of them dealing with marriage or not being married, and whether or not you should get married. But in verse 16, he says one thing, wives, for all you know, you might save your husband.

And husbands, for all you know, you might save your wives.

Now, I'm obviously not reading all of 1 Corinthians 7, but I do want to point out that what that says, you know, it says if by our conduct, by our sensing the needs, and then trying to meet those needs, understanding them, sensing them, and then doing whatever I can to try to meet them, however badly I would do that, but at least seeing that that has to do with the benefit that I could provide my husband or wife, even in their relationship to God, and also in my relationship to God. Let's go on to 1 Peter 3, because that's the other section. We've pretty well gone through most all of the direct statements that we have in the New Testament that clearly are directed to marriage and Christian marriage in particular, but here in 1 Peter 3, see, how is it that this is talking about respect and love? Because that's what this talks about. 1 Peter 3, verse 1 through 7 teaches Christians to come to understand the respect that we should have for Christ and God, His Father, our Father, and it also teaches the love. The sensitivity, the sensitive type of all inclusive love that we want to grow in as we grow in the love of God. He says in verse 1, in the same way, accept the authority or leadership of your husband so that even if some of them don't obey the word, they may even be won over without a word, not talking them into it or not trying to persuade them, try to get them to believe that the Trinity doesn't exist. Here, Mr. Jackson's passing out information, not to a husband or wife, but to a relative, about stuff that is correct, but probably a little beyond what he's able to handle right now. And yet, here he's talking about wives and their conduct. He says, even if some of them don't obey the word, they may be won over without a word by their wife's conduct, by her behavior. When they see, see, what is this reflecting? I know we have read this verse. I have read this verse and thought it said something else. And yet, what it says is that I need to fully understand the respect that I should reflect in my life. And I'm saying that not just to women, but to men, because that also is what we are to reflect toward God.

But in thinking about the concepts of respect and then love, you see this described here, it's not out of her words, but out of her conduct. When they see the purity and the reverence of your lives, that's what he's talking about. He's talking about the heart. He's talking about the respectful demeanor, the respectful tone that is going to create an amazing transformation in the lives of a husband and a wife and their marriage.

Even if one or the other, as we see back in 1 Corinthians 7, don't even believe the Word of God. They're not even connected to God in that way yet. See, that's what he's talking about yet. Not yet. But he says in verse 3, don't adorn yourself outwardly by braiding your hair or wearing gold ornaments or fine clothes. Now, does that say you ought to... don't bother coming to church.

Comb your hair. Set your hair. Don't wear it. That's not talking about that we don't try to dress nicely or we don't. I don't really care to comb anymore. At least I'm going to brag a little bit so it doesn't look too wild and crazy. And here, he's actually on tone. Why bother your conduct when seeing your lies? So he said, don't be so worried. More of the converse or adornment be the inner excuse with the lasting beauty and why you're right of God.

Uh, wives could take care of the way I'm allowed in general. Well, you know, I think it's again referencing the purity and reverence, the tone of respect that is to be projected. And sometimes you probably say things louder than quiet would describe. But sometimes that seems needed. And yet, you know, this says... and I thought, you know, some of the other translations use different words here. Humble and peaceable. Respectful spirit. That's what's being conveyed.

Even goes on and uses the example of Sarah within this way long ago. The holy women hoped in God.

Holy women who hoped in God. This would be individuals who had a connection to God, as Abraham and Sarah had. Were they Christians? No. I don't guess you'd see them defined as Christians, but they certainly were defined as the people that God called at that time.

And of course, Abraham became the father of the faithful. And we see some of his flaws, and we certainly see some of Sarah's flaws, but he said Sarah was one of the holy women who hoped in God, and of course through whom he would continue to cause a family to grow that he would work through in Israel, and actually set a pattern for a spiritual Israel that we would all then be a part of as the church of God today. But he said it was in this way long ago in verse 5 that holy women who hoped in God used to adjoin themselves by accepting the authority of their husband. See, they were respectful. Sarah was respectful to Abraham, and of course it says Abraham or Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him Lord. And I don't know that any of us would expect to be called Lord, doubt that any of us could live up to that, but that was again a term of endearment, a term of respect, a term of honoring him. And you have become her daughters. Peter is telling the church members you have become her daughters as long as you do what is good and never let fears alarm you. He said, this is the type of respect that I want you to learn to have in your marriage, but more so I require of the church of God to have that respect for Jesus Christ and God the Father. See, this has to do with our relationship with God far more than it has to do strictly with our marriage. And of course then he opens it up even wider in verse 7 because he's not only talking about the respect that is due to our Creator, but in verse 7 he says, husbands, as you function in your families, as you appreciate and learn to meet the needs of your wives, he says, husbands in the same manner show consideration for your wives. The New King James says, dwell together with them according to knowledge or according to understanding, as some of the other translations have.

The same way show consideration for your wives in your life together. And so how is it that love is to be expressed? Well, it's to be expressed with understanding.

It's to be expressed with an awareness of a difference, an awareness even of a difference of needs.

An awareness of how it is that I should desire to show love as the Father does for all of humanity in that He sent the Son. He sent the Redeemer. He sent the one that we all needed.

Otherwise we wouldn't have a relationship with the Father. But here in verse 7 he says, husbands in the same manner dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor, paying honor unto the wives, to the woman, as the weaker sex or weaker vessel.

Some of the translations have that. Since they are too, or also are heirs of the gracious gift of life.

And so here he points out that men and women equally have a potential in the divine family, and they should be treated in a respectful and honoring and building up esteem and not simply, as it does say, a weaker vessel. See, that particular phrase has been misunderstood in some ways. But I can say if you think that women are the weaker sex, you ought to try pulling the covers back on your side. See, they're often, at least my wife's able to pull the covers pretty well. Seems stronger than I might think. But again, it's giving a reference to just the usual characteristics. It's even a generalization because it may not always be the case in the husband and wife, but that men are generally going to be stronger physically.

They may not be stronger in a lot of other ways. But, as it says, husbands dwell together according to knowledge, dwell with your lives according to knowledge. This is how you are to love your wife with a perception, with an understanding of her needs. Probably, I should say, a growing understanding of her needs. Because I'm saying, obviously, this to me more than I'm saying it to you because I'm sure there are many times when I didn't understand my wife's needs very well.

And I think I understand that. At least I understand the words. Maybe I don't understand exactly fully what that is. But it says, since they are heirs together of the grace of life, since we both have the potential, men and women have the blessing of ultimately being glorified in the family of God. And he says, if you really learn to show love in this way, you learn to meet the needs of your wife, then in some ways you're keeping your prayers from being hindered. Why he adds that right at the end of this? He says, well, he brings it together so that nothing may hinder your prayers. So do I do things that may hinder my wife's prayers? Well, probably unintentionally.

And yet, see if she's going to be respectful of me. And if I do things that are not very sensitive, and not very loving, and not very kind, well then that may not give her a great desire, although maybe it should drive her new to her knees to pray for him that he would actually come to see something that he needs to see. But, see, I think there's what's written here saying that your prayers can be hindered if you are not living an understanding of love and respect. You are, you may be limiting yourself. How significant is our coming before God and asking for help? You know, that has a great deal of power. But, of course, that also is in an attitude of submission before God, man or woman. We are coming before God, and we are learning, learning how to take on a divine nature.

Now, I want to mention that in, again, in this book, if you happen to get it, and I don't have clearly the time to go over it, Dr. Agarich goes through a number of chapters for each man and woman that show them how, what the needs, show the husbands what the needs of their wives are and how they might try to address those. And he also shows what the needs of the husband are, how that his desire to be respected or to have respect can be achieved. I'm just going to read some of these again for the sake of time. There are six of them, actually, for each. He makes acronyms out of them. Of course, he talks about these all the time at his seminar, and I'm sure many people learn a considerable amount from it. The men's, you know, he even says if a husband memorizes, even uses one or two of these each day, he will do his part in keeping the energizing cycle going.

He's talking, of course, about the crazy cycle that we need to get off of and then try to get into doing things that will be in an energizing cycle, and I don't have time to try to even go into that. But he said, you know, husbands should ask themselves these questions, and he lists six different things that his wife needs. Closeness, openness, understanding, peacemaking, loyalty, and esteem. You know, I don't know if I would have come up with that same list, but he can actually support all of those in an elaborate way as to why. He even says regarding closeness, a husband could ask himself, am I always remembering to move toward her and accept her need to talk and connect with me to be reassured of my love? If I'm just saying, I love you, and that's it, well then maybe I'm not doing enough to really meet a need that my wife has in that area. Openness is very similar to that. He says, do I share my thoughts with her, and am I sure I'm not resisting her efforts to draw me out? I can do that without really thinking about it. If I apply myself, then I could do differently. Understanding, he says, am I careful not to try to fix her every time she talks about one of her concerns or problems? That tends to be a generalization again, but more often you find that that's what husbands try to do. Peacemaking, am I always willing to resolve issues? Loyalty. Now we understand we have a commitment to God and to our mates, and God expects us to honor that, but he says, do I constantly look for ways to tell my wife that I will be loyal to her forever? That's a reassurance. That's a respect of a need that could be there. And the last one, esteem. Do I let her know that what she does and thinks are important to me? I can think that, and I think that I surely have to admit that I do think that I don't express that very well. That's sad. That's a major area that I need to see how to do better. But he goes ahead in mentioning about the wife. A wife repels, excuse me, respect for her husband in these six concepts to let him know how important and vital he is to her. And so if the wife is going to come to understand the needs of her husband, then she's going to come to recognize certain of these qualities that are maybe not something that she is immediately... I would think as you analyze these are all very commonly understood, but probably not acted on in a respectful way. These are conquest. These again are...

These are the... Well, let me just go through a few of these. I'll go through four or five. Conquest and leadership. Insight and relationship.

So he mentions numerous areas, and actually he points out to wives that they would like if they would like to spell respect to their husbands. Then in all of these areas, if they are able to come to see the benefit of their husband and appreciate his desire or need in these areas, conquest or leadership or insight or relationship, these are significant areas of difference. In regard to conquest, he says, am I always standing behind him and letting him know I support him in his work and endeavors in the field that he works in, whatever he works in, because he identifies with that work. He identifies with that more than you would ever really know. And yet that is the first thing. It's regarding appreciation and support.

It says, do I let him know I respect and appreciate his desire to protect and provide for me and my family, our family? Do I recognize him as a...have a primary responsibility for leading in the home? Do I...see, this is what he's writing. And again, each one of these, you could say, you know, to appreciate his desire to do each of these things. Insight, that's something that is different. You know, I don't have the type of intuition that my wife has. I can't explain that.

I can't explain that except I can't explain that God has made men and women different.

And I certainly see my limitations, and I see that she may have certain thoughts and intuition that end up being right, but whether I paid attention to it or not, that's usually where I create a difficulty. And yet, in this he says, do I trust? And this, of course, is kind of turned around as far as a wife appreciating her husband's insight, because he might not have the same type of intuition that she may have, but it says here, do I trust his ability to analyze things and to offer solutions and not just depend on my intuition? See, that again is focused, you know, this need is focused on a wife showing respect for the fact that there's a difference in the way we might perceive things, and I want to appreciate his desire to analyze and counsel. Because often, you know, when you have a combination of those two, you get good results when you, you know, are vying for, vying for control, I guess you could say. You don't have such good results.

And one of the others area here is relationship. Do I spend shoulder to shoulder time with him whenever I can? Do I let him know that I am his friend as well as his lover? Those are needs that a man has. And as wives recognize the significance of these needs, and really, as he concludes this section, he says the beauty of it is if you meet your needs, the needs of your spouse, it'll come back to you as your spouse meets one of your needs. I mean, the symmetry, I guess, is now it's synergy. Synergy is the word. I've seen that before, and we've used that in some of our publications with the state. And I've always been wondering what in the world is that talking about? So I don't use synergy very much as far, but it is a synergy that is created whenever love and respect are fully understood and implemented and serving one another.

Then you've got an energizing cycle where we are motivating one another, men and women, husbands and wives, and we are growing. Both of us are growing in causing our marriage to thrive. We even might take some type of action here, a homework idea. We could write down traits or gifts in our spouse that are special to us, doing that on our own time and planning to discuss it some other time later on.

We could do that. That would help me know more about my wife and you as well. Or if we wrote down our needs or our hopes that, again, you want to share. That would help you grow together as you go forward. Those are things that we can do. And yet, are we motivated to do those? I mentioned praying together, and of course Peter mentions you want to learn to love one another in a sense and direct it specifically in verse 7 to husbands. But he says, if you don't dwell with your wives according to knowledge or understanding or in consideration, with consideration and showing esteem and praise and honor, those are words that are mentioned there, even back in Proverbs. It talks about the husband who praises his wife, her efforts, her involvement in numerous things.

But here in 1 Peter 3 verse 7 says nothing should hinder our prayers. And if we pray together, you know, again, I've told you that that's not been a real strength that we've had, but we are improving it. We are improving that, Tom, which I think helps me and I think it helps my wife a great deal. So to wrap this up, I'd like to remind us, again, I want to motivate us to not just know, not just know of what the Bible says because that clearly is where we begin. We begin by knowing. But I want us to be motivated to act on that knowledge and to realize that it's more than just my marriage that I'm trying to improve. I'm trying to improve. I'd like to improve. I want to improve my relationship with God, my appreciation and my respect for my Savior and the love that I desire to grow in because I know that's been extended to me and it's been extended throughout this world, even to people who absolutely hate God. He's going to change that outlook eventually. He's going to get people's attention and some of the things that we see in the problematic weather that we've had, that gets people's attention for a little bit. But unfortunately, it doesn't last unless it becomes a lot worse, which if you believe the Bible, it's going to get a lot worse. It's going to be beyond explanation. There will be no entertainment TV about what's going to happen because things are going to be so bad. You know, the people are going to be crying out for mercy from the great God.

And yet, in connection with our topic here today and I hope our understanding of Ephesians 5.33 and how applicable that is, one of the final pages that I'll read a little bit from out of this love and respect book, he even mentions Matthew 25, which I read to you earlier, how it is that if we see the needs and we meet the needs of our brethren, you know, we surely should want to meet the needs of our husband or our wife. We should want to see and meet those needs. He says there's a basic principle that we find here. Whatever I do for my spouse, I do it to Christ as well.

And that's clearly the connection that Jesus makes in Matthew 25. If you do it to the least of these my brethren, you're doing it unto me. You are learning the love and respect that I want to have expressed in the divine family. He says a husband's unconditional love for his wife reveals his love for Christ. A husband who loves God should love his wife also. And if you're not loving your wife, then you must ask yourself, am I really loving Jesus Christ? And a wife's unconditional respect for her husband reveals her reverence for Christ. And the wife who respects God should respect her husband as well. If you're not respecting your husband, then you must ask yourself, am I really loving Jesus Christ? There's a connection there. And brethren, I hope that we can see that connection, that we can understand the principle, that we can apply the thoughts of how we can better not only see, but then meet the needs of our husband or wife. And so, I think it's a wonderful blessing to be able to have an awareness of God's purpose and plan on earth. It's a blessing to know that he's growing a divine family. It's a privilege to have opportunity to, through the power of the Spirit of God, to partake of the divine nature. And surely, we want that to be a primary benefit to our marriage. That's really what I'm wanting to say. So, just how much more important we can apply this principle of Matthew 25 to just people in general, those who would be in need anywhere. Plenty of people are in need. But how much more important would it be to look to the most important person in our marriage, in our lives, our spouse, and then meet that need?