We come to the application section of Colossians in which God gives instructions for families. These instructions are set in the context of a chapter which calls us to practical holiness in our life. Very much a part of our walk with God and very much a part of our pursuit of Godliness is the practice of living out biblical principles in our homes. We might say there can be no Godliness and no Christ-likeness if we are not committed to following God’s principles in our homes. This is where the test is made.
Proverbs 18 says,
22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.
Almost nineteen years ago I obtained such favor from God as a gift of His immeasurable grace to me. Grace is commonly defined as, “unmerited favor”. I tell you, on December 19, 1987, on a showy afternoon, I received from God a gift I did not deserve and I did not merit. Frankly, I am still puzzled why God should give such a wonderful wife to me. I walked to the front of the church that day certain my masculine demeanor would remain in tact, only to discover, halfway through the ceremony of our covenant, tears streaming down my face. To this day, if I think of my bride for very long, those same tears return. They are tears of joy, tears of gratitude to God, and they are tears of deep mystery.
I speak on the subject of marriage not as an expert. I speak as one still learning, for I still have many more miles to go before I capture the fullness of this mystery; this mystery which God established in the beginning of time, this mystery which is called “marriage”.
In this study we consider God’s call to Christian husbands. In the previous study, we considered God’s call to Christian wives. We will take two studies and I do so because we men need a little more work.
On that day, nearly nineteen years ago, a pastor asked me a question in front of my family and friends. Kimberly and I stood hand-in-hand as this question was presented to me. It went something like this, “Ritch, do you solemnly swear,” excuse me that was not the question. That would have been a question in a courtroom! (Laughter) The question posed to me that day, as I recall it now, “Ritch, do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife and do you solemnly promise, before God and these witnesses, you will love, honor, and cherish her, and forsaking all others for her alone, will you live with her according to the ordinance of God in the holy bond of marriage so long as you both shall live?” To that question I said, “I do.”
Prior to that question I had carefully considered what it meant to love, honor, and cherish Kimberly. I thought I knew exactly what I was committing my self to that day, when I answered that question from that pastor, but I have found, in these nearly nineteen years, this commitment I made, to love, honor, and cherish, rather than being light, whimsical, and airy, has often been heavy, weighty, and very serious. The complexity of this commitment is not due to a deficiency in my wife, but rather to the discovery of pride in my own heart.
One of the great discoveries marriage has unearthed for me is the extent of my own self-centeredness and of my own self-seeking. I am convinced God intends for marriage to be His sanctifying tool in our lives, particularly in men to help us pursue Godliness, to help us to understand what it really means to follow Jesus, to understand what it means to be selfless, and to understand what it means to be God-oriented. This process of sanctification is advanced in husband’s lives when we commit ourselves to being loving leaders within our homes.
The text is Colossians 3, but we are going to look at one verse and others throughout the New Testament. Verse 19 says,
19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
In 1975, Simon Garfunkel sang a lyric which became a national number one hit. It was song simply titled, Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover. The chorus suggested some of those fifty ways: “Slip out the back, Jack”, “Make a new plan, Stan”, “You don’t need to be coy, LeRoy, just get yourself free”, “Hop on the bus, Gus. You don’t need to discuss much”, “Drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free”. This song was very catchy and interesting, but from God’s perspective the song is very foolish, for God’s Word tells us there are zero ways to leave your lover, not fifty. In God’s plan, the only way to we would ever have a lover is if we would stand in front of God and others first and pledge to Him and to her we would never, ever leave her “as long as we both shall live”.
In God’s economy there is no “love her and leave her”, there is only “love her” until the end of your life. God’s call to the permanence of marriage is not merely a call to refuse to divorce her or to leave her, but it is a positive command to cherish her, to honor her, and to love her. It is active.
Cherishing our wives is a call to being loving leaders within our homes. The question we ask ourselves at the outset of our meditation upon God’s Word in Colossians 3:19 is this: how am I to be a loving leader to my wife. We will take two studied to discover these things and I the subtitle of this study is “Ten Ways to Lead Your Lover”, for that is what we are called to do. We will study five ways in this study and they are, first, you gotta believe, Steve. Second, be the man, Dan. Third, handle her with care, Blaire. Fourth, open the book and pray, Ray. Fifth, turn off the set, Brett.
“You gotta believe, Steve.” We will first look at this issue of faith. The beginning place for every commandment God gives to us is our relationship with Him; a relationship of reconciliation, a relationship in which God gives us new life through His Son Jesus Christ. In Colossians 3 the context is given for us for all of these instructions. They are not given in a whole other topic presented which is unconnected to everything else written, but it is the logical consequence of everything written thus far. It says,
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts… 19 Husbands, love your wives…
This “since then” can be attached to every commandment outlined for us, particularly in Chapter 3. It is because of this new life we have with God, it is because of this soul which has been transformed in such a way so as to be conformed to the image of God, and it is because of this new life set apart to be lived unto the glory of God husbands are called to love their wives. We are not called to love our wives simply because it will make our life better for us and simply because we will be happier as a result, and that is a natural consequence, but for the Christian this is an extension of our faith and an extension of the fact we believe in God the Father and Creator of Heaven and earth, and we believe in His Son Jesus who died upon the cross as a redeeming sacrifice for our sin.
God’s call, first and foremost, upon husbands is we must believe and once we believe and have that foundation laid we strengthen such faith and our resolve to hold onto this constant believing before God. In Ephesians 5, we see this connection again between a man’s love for God and his love for his wife. These two are inseparable; if we love God we will love our wife and if we do not love our wife, there is a strong indication we do not love God. The context in these verses is similar to the context of new life being given and we read,
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord.
We find out what pleases the Lord further in Ephesians 5,
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…
Paul connects the love of a husband for his wife with Christ’s love for us and our relationship with Him. It is our life with God which becomes the foundation upon which a man can love his wife and his family and can live out the responsibilities God has given him in his family. This new life is given to us and this new life makes a practical difference in our everyday lives and in our practices in the way we express ourselves in every relationship, particularly the relationship of our home.
A husband may say, “I really love God but I do not know if I love my wife anymore.” I say to you, such a husband, this husband deceives himself and the truth is not in him. I can say that with absolute resolve because it is an expression of God’s Word and not my opinion. In 1 John 4, we read, and we can substitute “wives” in these verses,
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If 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.
There is an inseparable connection between our love for God and our love for our wives, and if we have trouble loving our wives, the first place to look is in our relationship with God, that we might love Him first and foremost and once that takes place there is a transformation so now our heart begins to love others around us, particularly our wives.
The message of the Bible for believers, particularly in husband’s relationships with their wives, is not simply, “Try harder and work at it. Do more. Be better!” The message of the Bible is God, in His grace, can transform our lives so we become loving men in all circumstances, regardless of the difficulties. Our ability is such we are able to love those who persecute us, the Scripture would say, and love our enemies, which Jesus calls us to do. How can we do that? It is through the transformation God makes in our hearts.
This is where we begin. Friend, before you consider how you might love your wife more, ask yourself this question: do I possess a life which has been radically transformed by the grace of God through His Son Jesus? Have I been born again? None of these other issues will be able to take root, and none of these other issues will make an eternal difference, until we settle in on this relationship which is of first priority. This is where Paul began his letter to the Colossian church. He did not begin his letter talking about their marriages; he began by talking about their relationship with God.
We look at Colossians 1, and we read the reality which takes place in the life of the believer,
13 For (God) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Is this a reality in your life? This is the first place to look. How might it be a reality? Verse 3 tells us,
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus…
That is where it all begins. The Bible tells us “we must believe, Steve”! In order to be the kind of husband God intends for us to be the first place to begin is not in looking and focusing upon your home, but the first place to begin is looking and focusing upon your own heart, and there is a call to believe. Once a person has come to believe in Jesus Christ, has repented of their sin, and embraced Jesus Christ as their own Savior and Lord, what else is to happen?
Colossians 2 tells us,
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
We need to move more and more toward the Source of Life and as we move toward the Source of Life we move toward the Source of Love and we are able to be what God calls us to be in our homes.
Men, the greatest gift you can give to your wife is the gift of a heart which is fully devoted to Jesus Christ. There is nothing better you can give to your wife because that will change everything about you. Too often the focus in marriage conferences and marriage sermons is on the marriage itself, and yet God calls us to begin here with the Gospel itself. Often times Christian teachers have pointed to a diagram to help people understand the nature of marriage and how its foundation is always ones relationship with God. Perhaps you have been taught where the husband and the wife at the bottom at the triangle and God at the top of the triangle and as two people move closer toward God, what happens in that triangle? They move closer and closer toward each other.
I would say this, it is absolutely impossible for a man and a woman to be moving closer to God and not be moving closer to each other. That absolutely cannot happen. As you find in your life your relationship with each other is growing further and further apart, one of two things is happening: one or the other is moving away from God so there is a faltering in the relationship; or both are moving away from God. That is why there is always hope, even in the worst kinds of marriages, where the marriage seems absolutely lost, void of love and of life, and empty. If we could get two people focused upon their relationship with God and believing, there is an absolute guarantee those two people will be moving closer to each other. So, you gotta believe, Steve!
The second way to lead your lover is, “Be the man, Dan”, and here we are going to discuss headship. God establishes different roles in marriage. Our verse today begins with the word, “husbands” and the instructions for husbands are separated from the instructions for wives and they are also distinct from the instructions given to wives. This indicates, as Paul begins “Wives…” and “Husbands…”, there are two different groups and there are distinctions between them, otherwise Paul would have begun instructions for married people this way, “Couples…” and we would have had several verses with the word “couples”. He did not do this; instead Paul began “Wives, this is your focus…”, “Husbands, this is your focus…” indicating God’s design of placing a man and a woman, created differently and yet in such a way so they can come together as one emotionally, spiritually, physically, and relationally, and He has placed within that relationship distinct roles.
In Ephesians 5, we see this most clearly, and God’s Word says,
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
Before we look at headship means, I think it is important to describe what headship does not mean, because often times this concept has been abused. Headship does not mean the man is more valuable, more intelligent, more capable, and more superior to his wife in any way. 1 Corinthians 11, which we discussed in the previous study, I believe is an important text, and God’s Word says,
3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Here we see the relationship as Christ is the head of every man, and I believe Paul is not talking in general terms but in specific terms of marriage when he says, “the head of the woman is man”. It is significant because in our understanding of God’s teaching in Revelation, concerning Himself, we understand and we know there is only one God, and yet this God is in three separate and distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is a mystery I am unable to describe adequately to my self, let alone to others, and yet in the unity of the Godhead there are three distinct persons and among the persons within the Godhead we find, in this text, there are clearly different roles and we see that through the Gospels when Jesus subjects Himself to the will of the Father over and over and submits Himself to the will of the Father. And yet, Paul states it in such a clear way the head of Christ is God.
There is no inequality in the persons of the Godhead in terms of intelligence, value, capability, or superiority, but there is only a distinction of the roles. The Son submits to the Father even though He is equal to the Father and all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form in Jesus Christ. There is no deficiency in Jesus. Yet, in the Godhead, in order for this union to be absolutely perfect, there are distinctions these persons and distinctions between the roles these persons take upon each in the Godhead.
So, we come to understand, as God uses this relationship to help us understand this other relationship, as God talks about the husband being the head of the wife, He is not talking about an issue of superiority, capability, or intelligence. None of those things are in view here. Furthermore, from that illustration, we also understand headship does not mean the husband is to be the dictator, the heavy-handed ruler, or the commander of his wife. That is not the relationship we see between the Father and the Son.
What headship does mean is the husband exercises leadership within the family. The husband is not passive within those relationships. He is not timid and he is not inactive in his relationship with his wife and children, so we have this phrase, “Be the man, Dan!” In other words, accept the call of God upon your life and take hold of the responsibilities of the leadership duties God Himself lays in your lap.
My son, Alexander, and I had the privilege to go to Wyoming this past summer and we listened to some talks by a pastor by the name of Robert Lewis. We spent a great deal of time talking about what it means to be “the man, Dan”. Robert Lewis succinctly stated the definition of manhood is, “the man is one who rejects passivity, who accepts responsibility, who leads courageously, and who looks toward the greater reward”. That is a pretty good definition of manhood. The temptation of the fall is to checkout, let things go, and let others take over, particularly in relationship areas.
We are not so much tempted to be passive in our careers, in work, on the basketball court, or as we root for our sports team. We are tempted to be too active in those endeavors, but in the relationship to the home, a biblical man is one who rejects passivity, who accepts and embraces responsibility, who leads courageously, and who looks toward the greater reward, knowing God has a great reward for him as he grabs hold of the responsibilities God gives to him.
If a man grabs onto his responsibilities as being the head of his wife and family, and if that man were compared to the parts of a car what part do you believe would best describe what God calls him to be or to do? Someone might say, “God calls him to be the steering wheel”. There is a certain amount of truth in this; that God calls us to be the ones to direct. We need, as a part of our loving leadership, listen to the input of our wives and communicate and talk together.
I believe there is another part of the car which better defines what God is calling us to, and that is the engine. The man is to provide the “horse power” for his family and for his relationship with his wife. The man is to provide the energy, the movement, the motion, and the momentum. He is to provide the work and the engine of the car is that part which does the work and gets things moving. Then we can talk about what direction we are going to go and we can decide those things together, but let us get the wheels rolling. That is what God calls us to be and to do in reference to our relationship with our wives and to everything that happens in our homes with our children and in our families.
Men, God gave you specific energy for a purpose one purpose, and it is not the only purpose, and that is to love your wives, to invest in that relationship, and to move your relationship up toward the goal which He has established.
In the last study, we talked about that goal of marriage and it is oneness and our movement up the mountain of oneness. It is going to require a great deal of energy. If we “go with the flow” and we do not have energy, what happens? We move down toward the valley of apartness. But, as we apply energy, I believe on the whole, and unless they have become extremely embittered toward you, your wife will respond in an amazing fashion toward you. This is what they desire. It is not our wives responsibility to provide the energy for this relationship, but it is the man’s responsibility to say, “I am going to accept this and I am going to be the engine and I am going to get the wheels moving in our relationship so we, together, can become one.” They desire a husband who puts energy to the relationship and who begins the movement up that mountain toward oneness.
The right of headship is not the right to make unilateral decisions without consulting our wives and it is not the right to tell our wives what to do, where to go, and how they can serve you. The right of headship is the right be the servant and make the sacrifices, to lay down our own agenda and to invest into another, and to provide the horsepower.
Men, God calls your wives to submit to your leadership. I would encourage you not to leave a vacuum and an empty spot where she has nothing to respond to. How can she respond to your leadership if there is no leadership?
Furthermore, a part of submission, and we discussed this in the previous study, is the wife not just passive and waiting and not doing anything until the husband acts, but it is actively pursuing the honor and respect of your husband, first in your own life, then in the eyes of your children’s lives, and then in the eyes of the community abroad. It is the wife saying, “I want my husband to be respected in my own heart, in the eyes and in the life of my children, and in the eyes and in the life of the community, and I am going to pursue that.”
But, men give your wife something to work with! God does not call her to lie for you, but God calls for her to do as much as she can to increase your respect. Give her something to work with. Give her something she can take before your children and take before the community and say, “This is who my husband is and I rejoice in it!” Be the man, Dan!
Third, handle with care, Blaire! This is an issue of kindness. Our text says,
19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
We are not to be hard, rough, sand paper against their skin, or rocks on a hard road against bare feet. Be like soft sand and be velvet.
In Ephesians 4, this is the context at the very end and is the context for commandments about marriage as well, and we read,
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted…
When my wife and I were dating, and we were still teenagers, she quoted a verse to me, which stuck with me, and as said it, I realized at the time how important this was to her, from Proverbs 19,
22 The desire of a man is his kindness…
That is what is desirable in a man; it is his kindness and his softness. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us how we are to love our wives and that love is kind.
In 1 Peter 3, we read,
7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect…
In other words, try to think about your wives’ responses, emotions, feelings, and understandings and be considerate of these things. The English Standard Version states that this way,
7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way…
I like that translation because it does not say, “Husbands, understand your wives…” because that is tough, perhaps impossible, for some of us to do. It does tell us to live with our wives as though we understand them, so that, from her perspective it seems as though you understand because your response is such you are “considering” her and you are respecting her responses. You are not looking upon her responses, thoughts, and feelings as being way out of line. But, Paul says,
7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
And, there is that spiritual equality.
It is interesting the text calls our wives the “weaker partner”. In other translations, the text uses “the weaker vessel”. In what ways are our wives weaker vessels? First, there is the physical; “Handle with care, Blaire!” I know there are exceptions to this, but for most the man is physically stronger than his wife. He is talking to us about being careful we do not physically lay too much upon her, but we relieve her of much of the physical load of life itself. We are walking hand-in-hand and if we are two backpackers we are willing to take not only our backpack and our part, but we are willing to take the majority of stuff in her backpack and put it upon us, knowing this person is a weaker vessel. She has not been given by God the same amount of physical strength.
I know there are exceptions to this aspect, but by-and-large men, as a biological fact, are stronger than women, so Paul says to live with her and do not disrespect the fact perhaps she cannot carry as much as you. Do not look down upon her as though, somehow, she is lesser than you because physically she is not able to have the same kind of endurance and strength.
This needs to be applied as we look, for instance, at the work which needs to be done in our homes; as we look at the care needing to be given to our children; a we look at the projects our families take on; as we look at the ministries we accept together, underneath the direction of God; as we consider the schedules and organization of them and the amount of time needed to be put into them; and as we consider the responsiveness in intimacy within marriage. We come with the view to this idea our wives are the weaker vessels and God has called us to come along side of them to help them, so He calls us to use our strength to serve our wives.
Chivalry should not be dead and certainly our sons need an example of us as Christian men because they do not have many examples anywhere else. There are not many ways secular kids are treating unsaved girls physically different. We need, as Christian men, to return to this and be model examples in the church and in our homes, in little ways and in big ways.
The little ways are the things often most seen, but one of the little ways is opening doors for our wives. Why was that practice established? It was established because we recognize the wives are weaker vessels. It does not mean they could not open the doors for themselves, but it means we are treating them this way and we are letting them know, through that little piece of communication, “I am here to use more of my energy so you do not have to use as much of your energy so, together, we can walk along in life physically together along the way. I am going to use and extra amount of my energy to serve you.”
When Kimberly and I were dating we began a practice of opening up the doors and I knew if I were to have much of a change I would need to attend to that. However, one day I forgot. I got into my car and I looked over expecting Kimberly to be there, but she was not there. She was still standing outside the door of my car. I looked over and waved at her and she waved at me. Suddenly, “Ding!” and I got out of my car and walked around, opened up the door, and let her in. That was a lesson I learned and I did not have to have it repeated again. I am thankful, though, my wife looked to me and expected me to do these kinds of things. She wants me to be this way.
When we have children this changes some things and they are heavy in the carriers, so it is important for the husband to say, “Let me take up the baby and carry them in.” We stopped opening up doors in that period of our relationship because how much time it would take to get the children in, buckle them up, and come around and open the door. Right or wrong, that is what we did. Now, I do not have to put my sixteen year-old son in the car, so we have reestablished this practice and it is a practice I believe I need to continue to commit myself to, just as a small symbol of my commitment to physically use the energy God has given me to serve my wife.
It is also in the big things of everyday life and of our expectations we might have upon our wives and the amount of work they can get done in the day so when we get home our dinners are cooked, the house is clean, the children are in order, and we can sit down and “veg out”. But, that is not what God calls us to do, but we will discuss this a bit later.
The second way we need to consider our wives as the weaker vessel is in the emotional differences. I am not sure I would call this a weakness, but it certainly is a difference and it may seem as a weakness. This is not absolute in every relationship and in every woman, but women in general tend to be more emotional; they then to cry more often and they seem to be more sensitive to things and to words, and that is a good thing. Men, we need to understand this in relationship to their physiology and how their physiology effects their emotions.
There are certain times when my wife will begin to break down and cry and I will say, “What did I say? What did I do wrong?” She will say, “You didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t know why I am so emotional.” She does not even understand herself, but God calls us to look at that and say, “That is strange and odd. I do not have a lot of respect for that.” Instead, God calls us to come along side of her and live with her as though we understand. We do not understand and sometimes they don’t understand sometimes, but we must come along side and support her and she will feel as though we are understanding her because of the tenderness and responsiveness of our own heart.
Men, it is really important you do not use your strength to intimidate your wives. This is a very serious issue. Sometimes we do not realize we are even doing it. Our voices are deeper and typically louder. We are used to that on the playground. It is a biological difference. When we have families with girls there is a different level of volume present than families with boys. Boys are just louder, and yet, as men, we need to realize our voices can be used in such a way to intimidate our wives. God calls us to live with them with respect as the weaker vessel and that means we lower the volume and not be harsh or come across as harsh.
On the playground, if we get into a disagreement with another guy in a football game, what do we do? We yell, shout, and talk loudly. When we get in our homes we must not apply that same kind of communication because we do not want our wives to toughen up. The worst things is to have a wife who toughens up, because when she does she looses that part of her femininity which God has called to bring a blessing to this marriage union so the two can become one. We must treat her with this kind of softness, tenderness, and kindness.
Furthermore, particularly to men, and it almost goes without saying but it needs to be said, we must never use our physical strength to intimidate our wives. The worst form of that is some kind of assault: a hit, a push, a shove, or a slap. As an aside, women, I encourage wives the first time there is that kind of physical assault, call the police. That is an illegal act and that man is to be under the authority of the state. You may say that is kind of tough and I know it is tough, but it is for his benefit. If something of that nature does not shake that person up early and before they get into a pattern, they will be lost and enslaved to such sin. It will be miserable for everyone.
Even without that kind of action, it is possible for us to stand up straight and be big and strong and carry ourselves about with a bit of a different physicality, and God calls us never to use our strength in such a way because it is treating them as an unequal when we do so.
The fourth way to lead your lover is, “Open the book and pray, Ray!” This is God’s call for spiritual leadership in our homes. In Ephesians 5 we read,
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word…
God intends us to be sanctifying influences upon our wives. That is our call. This is what Jesus does for us as our Head and this is what husbands are called to do for their wives, so that, at the end of this relationship, at the end of our lives when the nature of that relationship change at death, our wives are more holy because they have been with us. This is not a relationship which completely ends in death because I believe we know each other and enjoy each other throughout eternity and have a much deeper relationship than here on earth.
The question we must ask ourselves as we are in this process, “Is my wife becoming more like Jesus because I am married to her and because she is married to me?” That is the call and we will study that further.
I want to close just as I began, in Proverbs 18,
22 He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.
Such is the favor of our physical lives, but I want to ask you again, “Have you attained the ultimate favor from God, the ultimate grace, and the ultimate undeserved gift God has provided for us in Jesus? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior?” This is where everything must begin.
Christian husband, as you have embraced Jesus Christ, are you now walking in Him just as you received Him, with the same measure of humility, the same measure of responsiveness, the same softness of heart, and the same readiness to obey as you had the first day God broke open your heart and shown the light of the Gospel of Jesus to you? Are you walking just as you received Jesus Christ? Let us intend our way to Him and thus bring glory to His awesome name and bring joy to our heart.