Sunday was a great day and a great part of our weekend. We got to be with my dad and his new wife Ann on his birthday. We were all together, the entire family, for Rebecca’s graduation from Ferrum College on Saturday. We spent the day and celebrated Rebecca’s 21st birthday with family and friends.
The icing on the proverbial cake was the message from Sunday morning’s worship. You know that I enjoy preaching. It is an honor to share God’s word, but this was even better because my wife Julie and I preached this message together. It was new and fresh and seemingly newly refreshing!
Our new sermon series is about relationships in light of eternity and our connection to God. Therefore, I want to share just little of the content from yesterday’s sermon, and I would like to invite you to join us in the next few weeks as Julie and I will share even more.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 NASB
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
Eternity is a pretty big deal. God calls us to live and move based on our connection to Him and His plan for our lives. He has placed eternity in our hearts.
Julie’s thoughts: The word submissive in this verse (referring to 1 Peter 3:1) is a scary word for women today. Society tells us that submissive means that our husbands are the authority over us as women. We are too focused on what submission does not mean, and we never understand what it does mean. Francis and Lisa Chan say, in their book “You and Me Forever”, that we live in a time when most people distrust and dislike authority, and it spills over in our unwillingness to submit to the lordship of Jesus. The world tells us to listen to our hearts, and we shouldn’t have to listen to anyone telling us what to do. After all, we are strong and independent. Submission actually means seeking humility by following Jesus’ example. We are humble because we are Christ followers; it goes beyond our relationship with our husbands. Our submission is to God. Our husbands will make mistakes, but God doesn’t. When we submit totally to God our submission to our husbands will come naturally. We were designed to help our husbands we accomplish more together. If our husband is not a Christian the scripture continues to say that our Godly lives will speak to them without words so that they will be won over by observing our pure and reverent lives.
Romans 8:7 NIV
Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
How awesome it is to know that God connected us to Him. We are heirs of His kingdom that means we have more to live for than just having fun or seeking to meet our own needs. That is why our marriages ought to glorify God and serve our spouses.
Julie’s thoughts: Sometimes understanding how our spouse’s minds work will help us to be of one mind. Men and women think in different ways. Women, when you ask your spouse what they are thinking about and they say “nothing”, men can really be thinking about nothing.
We have to work at being on the same page, work at knowing what is on each other’s minds and how each thinks. That is a lot of work. That is work that is worth it.
Romans 12:16 NASB
Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
Philippians 2:2 NASB
make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
That is enough for now. Marriage is worth working on, but it also tough to work on. That is why we have to do this together!
Comments