In His salvation God gives Himself to us, but in order for us to enjoy Him, we must give ourselves to Him. We do not need to give ourselves to Him because we are useful, but rather because we are not useful in ourselves, and we need to be reduced. He has no need for what we are in ourselves; instead, He wants to be lived out through us. Hence, we must give ourselves to Him in order to enjoy Him.
God wants to be lived out through man so that He may manifest His greatness and His glory. When God created man, He made a whole and complete person. However, the Bible reveals that God does not want us to live by ourselves. He wants us to hand ourselves over to Him and live by Him. The marriage life is a good example of this. Although women are considered to be weaker vessels according to the revelation of the Bible (1 Pet. 3:7), they are still whole and complete persons. However, at the time of marriage God wants every wife to hand herself over to her husband and begin to live by her husband and no longer by herself. Although she is a person, she needs to give up her person and take her husband as her person.
When a man and a woman are married, one head must be covered. Sometimes I questioned why God created two persons, each with their own head, and then would ask the woman to give up her position. It seems as if it would have been simpler to create one head. It is hard to understand why He would create two heads when He only wanted one, but this is how He manifests His wisdom. God indeed created man and woman, each with their own head, and sometimes a woman is even wiser and smarter than a man. Nevertheless, at the time of marriage, God pays no attention to the intelligence or competence of a woman; instead, He asks a woman to cover her head and take her husband as her head.
Although women will typically cover their head during a wedding, very few keep their head covered after the wedding. Once the wedding is over, it seems as if the wife’s head quickly comes out from under its covering. Sometimes it comes out so far that it even rises above the husband’s head. However, the more her head comes out, the more the marriage will lose its sweetness and even become a source of friction. I would give some advice to the sisters who are wives. If you want a sweet married life, give yourselves to your husband and take him as your head. Some sisters may have difficulty with this and think that this means that women are inferior to their husband. But this is not the point. Even if a sister is smarter than her husband, God still wants her to be under the headship of her husband. A wife can do this only if she gives herself to her husband and takes him as her person.
Marriage is a picture that shows how we must give ourselves to the Lord and take Him as our person. This is God’s wisdom. We were created by God as complete persons, and we are thoughtful and capable. God’s way of salvation, however, is not related to a lack of capability on our part. Even if we were the most capable persons, God would still want us to give ourselves to Him and take Him as our person. Since our understanding of God’s intention is not accurate, we often pray in an ineffective way, saying, “Lord, You have defeated me. You have dealt with me to such an extent that I am truly incapable of doing anything. You must supply me and fill up my lack.” The thought that we should give ourselves to the Lord when all our capabilities have been brought to nothing does not reflect God’s intention. We should not wait to reach such a point before we give ourselves to the Lord. Even if we seemingly have great capabilities, the Lord will still come to us and say, “Stop! Give yourself to Me, and let Me be the One who does everything in you.”
God’s way of salvation is that He would become one with us. Although we are living, He should be the person in us. This means that we should relinquish our own person and take the Lord as our person. The relationship between a wife and her husband provides many opportunities to either take or not take someone else as our person. For example, a wife may ask her husband to go to the store for her on his way to work. When he says that he must be at work on time, she may “gently” insist until he gives in. Even though there has been no argument, the wife has not taken her husband as her person. If she takes her husband as her person, she would not be bothered if he said no or if he told her that she needed to wait. Such a reaction would show that she was not living for herself but for her husband and that she was not being a wife for herself but for her husband. After a period of time, the husband may say, “Let us go and get what you need.” If the wife is not merely relying on her husband to do things for her and, instead, is taking him as her person, she will ask how he feels about the items they intend to buy. When they are in the store, the wife will ask, “Do you like the red garment?” If we rely on the Lord only to do things for us, we will limit our experience of Him to knowing His power but not His person. We need to advance in our experience. Instead of depending on the Lord to do things for us, we should take Him as our person.
When a wife takes her husband as her person, it does not mean that she is inferior to her husband. Even if she is smarter than her husband, she should be willing to hand herself over to her husband and take him as her person. It is good that we cannot match the Lord in terms of our capabilities. He is the most perfect and brilliant One, and we should take Him as our person.
Absolute consecration means to hand ourselves over to the Lord and to take Him as our person. Once we take the Lord as our person, we will have no problems: we can be either poor or rich, we can be abounding or be in want, and we can be either filled or hungry. In everything we can learn the secret of taking Christ as our person.