From the tract '10 Reasons Jesus Came to Die' by John Piper
#9) To give marriage its deepest meaning
Jesus' sacrificial death was a great example for all of our relationships. Paul pulls a Dr. Phil and uses it as a gauge for marriages. In general he lays out the following roles. Wives are to submit to their husbands. Husbands are to love their wives. Do you feel like one of those requirements outweighs the other? Is it harder to fully submit to the authority of another person or to love someone to the point of sacrificing everything for them? I think many people view one of these role as more difficult. I expect that it is based on experiences with their own relationships or other examples they have seen. The truth of the matter is both actions are equally impossible to achieve on your own power. We know true love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). It's only through this relationship with God that we can learn both love and submission for other people.
If you read beyond the “required” roles, Paul reveals the examples set by Jesus and the church. As I mentioned before, the church is the people following Jesus and not the building they worship in (but I couldn't resist the visual for the wedding topper). The church is to fully submit to Jesus because He is our leader. The irony is that our sinful nature thinks submission is absurd because we need to look after our needs first, when in reality anything Jesus asks of us is intended for our ultimate good. Jesus shows us how to love each other by the way he loved the church so much that he sacrificed everything for it. His sacrifice allows us to be pure and holy in this life and to be glorified in the next. Following this cyclical example, submission and love for your mate makes perfect sense because they will balance the equation with submission and love for you.
It's like one of my favorite amusement park rides, the Rotor (although I haven't seen one since middle school). If you don't know the ride, a group of people walk into this enormous upright barrel and everyone stands with the backs against the wall. The barrel starts spinning , gradually increasing to a speed of 33 revolutions per minute. All of a sudden the floor drops out from under you. But instead of falling, you're stuck to the wall. (Thanks centripetal force!) As the spinning decreases, the riders slowly side down the walls safely onto the floor. Did you get the metaphor? In a relationship, the constant cycle of love and submission is what keeps you lifted up.
If you let Jesus have some of your wedding cake:
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