Spirit-Guided Relationships: Wives and Husbands

21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.

25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.30 And we are members of his body.

31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Ephesians 5:21-33 (NLT)

Divorce

When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”


Matthew 19:1-12 (NIV)

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Thank you Laura Nubuck of FreeImages.Com for sharing the image.

Purging Pride

This article is a very timely reminder. Thank you InTouch Ministries for sharing.

Source: http://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions/purging-pride

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1 Peter 5:1-7

To humble ourselves, we must first be willing to detect pride in our heart. But recognizing it isn’t the same as getting rid of it. Here are several common areas of pride and some solutions for dealing with them.

Possessions. Start giving things away. We can begin by honoring God with our tithe. He promises that our nine-tenths will go farther than ten-tenths. The next step is to give to someone in need who can give nothing in return. But don’t parade your generosity around; keep it as secret as you can (Matt. 6:1-4).

Position. Acknowledge that whatever you have accomplished, God has done it for you (Isa. 26:12). Then ask Him to show you an area of service that has no rank or credit. Knowing that the Lord values every kind of service, we shouldn’t hesitate to request a place that is lower than we’re accustomed to. Our position in this world matters only to the extent that we use it to glorify God (James 1:9-11).

Privilege. Realize that many things you may take pride in come through privilege. None of us is truly “self-made”; no matter how hard you’ve worked, others have made sacrifices to allow you the opportunities and freedoms you enjoy. Remember, it is actually God’s grace that has blessed you with whatever knowledge you may credit yourself for having.

No matter what kind of pride we deal with, we must take the focus off of ourselves, turning it first to God and then to others. When we are willing to confront our pride actively, God will replace it with a spirit of humility that fits who we are in Christ.

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. — Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV)

Happy Heart’s Day!

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.

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Mark 12:30-31 (NIV)