But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18

Monday, December 3, 2012

The Undivided House

Very few subjects will pull me out of a writing hiatus like the subject of marriage. I don’t know why I am so drawn to the topic. Maybe it is because I am married. Maybe it is because the definition and institution of marriage according to our government is about to be redefined. Maybe it's because my job is marriage planning. Mostly, I’m passionate about it because it is the very covenant that God used to mirror the relationship between Christ and the church. God is crazy about marriage in all of it’s aspects and so it would make sense that He desires marriages to succeed!

Recently, I had a conversation with a dear friend who is struggling with outside forces in her relationship. I laughed when she said, “I love him, that’s the easy part. It’s everything else that is hard!” Exactly! I have always said loving Kraig is easy it’s everything else that is trying to kill us! Things like bills and jobs and kids and stress and family and sickness and overall hard times and hard people. Yes, marriage, if contained inside of a bubble or on a movie screen, would likely never meet the continued demise of divorce like it does when exposed to...life and oh, yes, sin. Your sin, their sin and everyone else’s sin, sin.

Which brings me to my point. Scripture states, “a house divided against itself will fall” (Luke 11:17b). In other words, husbands and wives have to present a unified front, every time to every one. The minute that we start to throw the other party under the proverbial bus, the weaker our own house becomes. Think about that ladies. Every time that you take the opportunity to oppose your husband and his leadership you do yourself a disservice. Every time you oppose him to your children, your friends, your family, your co-workers - you tear your own house down. Proverbs 14:1 states that “a wise woman builds her house but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.”

That’s it. That’s the word for the day. It made me think and I thought I would share. So, word to the wise woman: “Build your house! In your deeds, in your words and...in your heart.