God loves for us to come to Him and ask Him for things. But I wonder what kind of relationship I would have had with my husband if I shared only about fifteen minutes a day with him and spent the first minute or two thanking him for what he had done for me and the rest of the time asking him to do something else for me! I doubt we would have had a very good relationship! My husband wanted me to love him simply for who he was. And Jesus Christ, Who is my heavenly Husband, also wants to be loved for Who He is. Not just for what He has done, or may do, but for Who He is in Himself. Would you make time each day to praise Jesus for Who He is? Read the Bible, gleaning His attributes that you might live your life in praise of Who He is.
The Bible clearly teaches there is to be an equality between man and woman, husband and wife. “In the image of God, . . . male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it'” (Gen. 1:27-28, NIV).
Dominion over everything was given to the woman as well as to the man. The woman was not inferior to the man; nor was the man greater than the woman. Men and women, husbands and wives, were and are equal. The New Testament reaffirms the principle of equality when it says men and women are “heirs together of the grace of life.”
God in His wisdom created man and woman equal in His sight, and this equality is to be reflected in the marriage relationship. Husbands and wives are to give each other respect, appreciation, and understanding as equal partners.
King Solomon wisely admonished, “He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends” (Prov. 17:9, NIV). One of the definitions for love given in the New Testament is that, “Love does not delight in evil. . . . It always protects” (1 Cor. 13:6-7, NIV).
One of the greatest failures in the Bible was the apostle Peter. His most notorious moment of sin was when, after vowing that he would die for Jesus, he actually denied ever having known Him. And he denied Him not just once but three times. Yet God, in His mercy and grace, restored Peter so completely that he was given a prominent leadership position within the early church, opening the door of opportunity for the Gentiles to receive the gospel. And Peter, who understood the shame of failure and the humiliation of sin, encouraged Christians to “love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
Some people may consider the intimate side of marriage as somehow being “unspiritual.” But if you stop to think about it, the first person who ever had a sexual thought was God. In a perfect world, at the beginning, love expressed in marriage in a mutually respectful sexual relationship was God’s idea. It was designed as pure, holy, and pleasing to Him.
Dr. Ed Wheat, a prominent marriage counselor, has pointed out that if the physical side of marriage deteriorates, every other aspect of marriage will soon be affected (Love Life for Every Married Couple)[1]. When God commanded Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and increase in number” (Gen. 1:28, NIV), He seemed to be saying, “Make sex a priority in your marriage,” not only for the procreation of the race but also in order to maintain the healthy, intimate, physical unity with each other for which we were created.
Blessings,
[1]Love Life for Every Married Couple, Ed Wheat, M.D., Zondervan Publishing, 1980.
In the Old Testament, the meal offering consisted of fine flour that was ground to powder by being placed in a round hole, where it was grated by a square pestle. The flour was then mixed with oil, which represented the Holy Spirit. The oil and flour, thoroughly mixed together and offered to God, was a picture of a totally consecrated life.
Sometimes God puts us with someone whom He uses to grate us. For instance, perhaps you are very generous with your money, and you are married to someone who is so careful, he or she is almost stingy. Or perhaps you are very quiet, and God has put you on a committee with someone who talks nonstop. Or worse, perhaps you are a nonstop talker and you are on a committee with another nonstop talker! Instead of avoiding those with whom we are incompatible or just tolerating them, Jesus commands you and me to love them. And as we obey His command, He will use that person to grind off our sharp, impatient, un-Christlike edges.
