Instructions for marriage part 2

Ephesians 5:25-30

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. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body.

This week I read a blog that aligned really well with what I was planning to write about this week.  Last week I started talking about the instructions we are given in marriage.  We talked about how the woman is to love the husband. 

This blog talked about how this Christian woman had decided to pursue a divorce because her husband had been repeatedly unfaithful and was caught in substance abuse.

The writer went on to talk about how the enemy prowls and how all of us (men and women) are susceptible to waywardness and the passions.  This motivated him to search his own heart.  He realized that in order to protect his marriage, he needed to keep God at the center of it.  To help himself, he took the time to write out vows.  Things like love big and stay small, get off devices and be present for his wife and children (Be Here Now!), seek quiet, stillness and solitude.  He went on with these vows of ways he was going to focus on his wife.

I thought this was a great read as in Ephesians, husbands are instructed to love their wives just as Christ loved the church.  He gave himself up for the church, to make her holy. 

We often hear about how men are the head of the household and women are to submit to their husband, however we often miss the part about how men are to love their wives as their own bodies. 

When we love our spouse and help them to keep God at the center of your relationship, you also love yourself and help keep yourself clean and blameless.

Thursday Devotional - Peas and Peter

My Mom has a plaque in her kitchen that says “You have 2 choices for dinner – take it or leave it.” However, as a kid, if I “left it,” I got it for breakfast the next morning. I remember eating peas for breakfast more than once! My parents knew best. They knew I needed to eat fruits and vegetables instead of the chips and cookies I preferred. They helped me learn discipline to do the best thing even when it’s the hard thing. They also helped me learn the value of submitting to authority even when I didn’t understand or didn’t see the long-term implications.

Jesus did the same for Peter. Last week we talked about Jesus’ personal selfless surrender. He voluntarily submitted to God’s plans even in the face of terrifying opposition. This week, we will see how Jesus encouraged His disciples, especially Peter, to do the same.

John 18:10-11         ¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) ¹¹ Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

God expects submission, even in the face of opposition. Like Peter, we may not understand or see the long-term implications, but we can trust God knows what He’s doing.


What unavoidable trial, hardship or difficulty are you and I trying to overcome or fight in our own strength? How is it going? What if we embraced the unavoidable difficulty for God’s glory? We can trust God knows best, submit to His authority and then look for His results. 

Alice

Personal Branding

What is about Tide that makes it such a recognized laundry detergent? Before you ask what a guy like me would know about laundry detergent, my mother did teach me how to wash clothes, and you learned which detergents worked best (FYI - I’m not a big Arm & Hammer fan ).  However, I knew about Tide long before I ever used it because it had a strong brand name.  One of the latest trends in career planning focuses on the phase ‘personal branding.’ This in short means ‘what you are known for.’  This includes facts about you, reputation, and impression made by you.  It makes one think about our spiritual brand.  Do we represent worldly values or those that God would expect of us?  What would our brand look like?

We should represent God in ways that honor Him at all times. There are times where we represent ourselves above God.  In many of those instances, things do not work out well.  This can be harmful to the message of the Good News as many who seek God gain an understanding of Him through our actions and behavior.  Although this may seem to be an unfair burden, it is part of our being representatives of Christ.  Put another way, we represent the brand of Christ Jesus to those who do not know Him.  Thus when we truly represent Christ in a way that honors Him, we display all of those values that we ourselves saw when we gave our lives to Him.  Love, acceptance, forgiveness, and kindness were all things that I found when I decided to follow Him.  They became ingrained in me, and as a result God uses those things to help share His message to others.  Furthermore, He inspired me to be bolder in sharing my faith and understanding in helping others when they did not see God as I did.  We all have something foundational within ourselves when we decided to follow Christ.  We must harken back to the foundational parts of our faith for when we do, we show the world the relationship we have forged with Him that love onto others as He first loved us.

God gave us so much for the opportunity to serve Him. Jesus came, and offered Himself as a sacrifice to remove the burden of our sins.  This is nothing new to us, but with this gift of grace, we must accept our representation of Him.  As Jesus points out in the Parable of the farmer planting seeds, we can choose to be either a seed that falls in rocky soil having temporary joy only to have it lost (Matthew 13:20-21), amidst the thorns producing nothing (Matthew 13:22), or in fertile soil rooted in hearing and understanding God’s word to produce a harvest larger than ourselves (Matthew 13:23).  Let us resolve to take up the mantle representing Christ in all we do.  How can you represent less of yourself and more of Christ today?  Who can you talk with to help ensure your branding is in alignment with Christ?  My prayer is that Jesus Christ is fully representative of our personal brand.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Look over here

Hello,

Taken a family photo lately? Trying to get the kid(s) to look at the right spot at the right time often feels impossible. We try different manners of noise making and bribery to get the focus to be the right direction.

It makes me wonder if that is how God feels about us sometime. He just wants us to look at Him….but we are distracted by any noise or flash of light or the smallest movement. When we don’t look, we miss out on timing and direction – just like in a photo with the timing of the shutter or direction of when to say cheese.

Even others in the family can distract us. Try telling one child to look at the camera, and soon another is looking at the one who was not looking…but now the original one is looking, and the other is distracted – and the cycle goes on!

This had me thinking about Hebrews 2:1-3 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (NASB)

Have a blessed day as you focus your eyes on heaven.

Will Hill