CWW Week 15 - Day 4 - God In The Family
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Joshua 24:15
‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’
Devotional.
As we continue unpacking the principles of the Resolution charter we unpack the third commitment.
I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honour her, and be willing to lay down my life for her as Jesus Christ did for me.
The family unit is under a full on frontal assault as is evident in the number of single parent families and domestic violence events that plague our community. There are countless thousands of children who have no idea who their father is and likewise many thousands who have been killed in severe domestic violence situations around the world.
Principled living is becoming uncommon in both secular and dare I say, Christian families. The level of abuse and infidelity is as high in church communities as it is in the secular community.
Political correctness and the rising woke agenda make it difficult to say what I am about to say but it needs to be said nonetheless.
The roles between men and women have become so blurred that confusion is leading to frustration and anxiety among fractured families across the globe.
The make up of men and women is deliberately defined in the way we are constructed. The normal physicality of men equips them to be hunters, gatherers and protectors, while the basic feminine construct makes women ideally suited to the role of mother, homemaker and nurturer. It is abundantly clear that this was how the original design of God’s was meant to function. With the two combined the family unit had all the bases covered to raise a warm and healthy community where all the needs of that community were adequately met.
When a woman is honoured, loved and respected and allowed to flourish as God intended by a husband who is strong in his faith and meek or non controlling in his approach, she thrives and so do her children. All of her emotional, physical and spiritual needs, being met by her husband, her natural tendency is to love and cherish her husband. This in turn has the effect of fulfilling her husbands desire and reinforce his manhood in a way where he feels secure in his relationship with himself and God.
Today the roles have shifted and gender seems to be shrouded in notions of choice that are unsustainable and toxic to society. Boundaries have been eroded and self seems to override the needs of the community.
“Ephesians 5:25 NKJV – Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,” gives us a clear picture of the desire of God for us all to maintain our given roles in love.
The Bible tells us in a previous verse that; “Ephesians 5:22 NKJV – Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” Too many Christian men stop at this verse without considering the latter. The balance in the relationship is shattered when we don’t tie the two verses together.
How much easier is it for a woman to submit to a husband that treats her as the Bible and God have instructed her to be treated?
I carry the burden of a selfish life lived before I met Jesus. A life permeated with infidelity as I battled a sexual addiction. I used to think my first wife didn’t know of my indiscretions and because of that was not hurt by it. I now see how wrong that was and as such must also shoulder the responsibility for the breakdown of the marriage. It was easy to justify my actions by telling my sinful self that this wouldn’t have happened if she knew how to love me, but maybe she stopped trying because I was not worthy of the kind of love I needed. As I’ve said often, life is a long journey of character development and I am a better man now than I was years ago and I thank God for that.
Now as I live in a wonderful marriage with Michelle I have grown to establish a solid foundation for every day in the union. I ask myself daily, “what can I do today to make her feel more loved than yesterday?
I have learned them that our wives are the heart of honour and we should nurture and protect it in them.Jesus loves the church and died for her on the cross. The church is always referred to as the Bride Of Christ.
If we seek to restore the values of the past we have to uphold the principles on which they were built. The standards have been allowed to slip away and we are so much the worse for it.
So many men I have spoken to would often tell me that they would take a bullet for their wives but wouldn’t dream of holding her hand in public even after being told that the lack of this public show of affection is killing their wife emotionally.
We have to accept that we must learn to love our wives in the way that they express their love for us.
We have a long way to go but the journey is never too late to start.
Questions.
- If you have been unfaithful to your wife, did that make you feel proud or ashamed?
- Do you know what your wife’s emotional needs are?
- What are you prepared to do to have her feel honoured and respected?
Prayer
Dear Lord, Papa God.
We are all part of the family of God as undeserving as we are. You have shown us an everlasting love. Help us father God to live our lives in accordance with your life principles that we may be worthy of a healthy marriage and eternal life with You in Heaven. As we think about the way we have lived, I pray that your love for us is a guiding example of how we are to love each other. For this is my prayer in Jesus name. Amen.
Graham Hood