I Can't Stand My Wife!
Theme of the Week: Focused Freedom
Friday, May 30, 2003
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Key Bible Verse: You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing (John 13:17). Bonus Reading:John 7:16-17; 8:31
You want the truth?" Mike asked calmly. I knew Mike and Lori were having troubles; that's the reason I'd asked him out to lunch. They'd been married for 30 years and had four kids, but his wife was miserable.
"Sure," I answered, "let's hear it."
"I can't stand my wife," Mike said. "There's nothing I like about her. I don't like her voice. I don't like her laugh. I just no longer like being around her."
We talked for a while and finally I said, "Mike, God says you have to love your wife. If you don't, that's sin."
He was a just-the-facts-ma'am kind of guy. He could deal with black and white. We talked some more, and I gave him a little piece of paper with step-by-step instructions about how to love his wife. He took the paper and promised to do the things on it.
Although his heart wasn't in it, he knew he had to obey God—so he did it.
The funny thing was that a few months later I heard from his wife that he'd become more loving. I didn't have to prod him or browbeat him. That's the way it is with obedience. Once you start down the path, what begins as duty often turns into desire.
—Todd Wilson in Indiana
My Response: A time when initial reluctant obedience turned positive for me was …
Thought to Apply: The golden rule for understanding in spiritual matters is not intellect, but obedience.
—Oswald Chambers (British teacher, chaplain)
Adapted from Indiana by permission.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
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Lord, help me move beyond "have to" to "want to" in relating to Your commands.
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