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"God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin. Then each of you will control your body and live in holiness and honor."
(1 Th. 4:2)
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I Will Engage My Wife |
The Covenant |
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"You husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her..." (Eph. 5:25 NLT) "...She is your equal partner in God's gift of new life. If you don't treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard." (1 Pet. 3:7 NLT) | |
| Engaging "with our wives ..." Sometimes we can lose sight of what it is we are fighting for. If married, there is no more important human relationship than your wife. A temptation of a man is to not move towards his wife but to emotionally withdraw from her. As taught to us by Dr. Larry Crabb, Adam was present when Eve was being tempted, but he did not make a move to rescue her. This weakness of man is part of the fall, but we are commanded to fight against it.
A Jonathan/David relationship should never get in the way of the relationship with our wives. In fact, the core human challenge from a friend or brother should be to fight for the spousal relationship. The strength gained from relationships with other men is meant to first be brought back into our homes. Our wives are the beauties who have been bloodied by the wounds of life. We are being called by our King to be willing to lay down our lives to rescue them. Of course the marriage relationship often feels like a battle. Our most important human relationship will cause us the greatest scars and will certainly be hard-fought. Satan does not want this relationship to survive because it is central to our mission.
Our wives are essential to the cause. Dan Allender, an author and Biblical scholar, teaches that those who have been given a wife by God will find her essential in the noble mission and battle for which they were created to engage. The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him." (Gen. 2:18) In the Hebrew, this "companion and helper" to which God is referring is a "rescuer" in the context of a war! For example, this same Hebrew word is used in the passage from Psalm 46:1-2 to describe God as our rescuer: "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble." So not only are we called to rescue our wives, but they in turn will rescue us. Our wives are a divine combination of strength and tenderness. We must love our wives, fight for their hearts, and call out their inner beauty and glory. And in time we will discover the reason our mission in this war requires engaging with our wives - entrusted to us as a companion, helper, and rescuer!
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