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“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” (Romans 6:12)
Sin is ugly. No matter how you look at it, sin stinks. It seems to be worse when it is a part of a believer’s heart, for Christians are supposed to live free from sin, without stain, and without blemish. The world looks at believers ready to point out their sin and say, “Ah hah! Another hypocrite. All Christians are alike. I don’t want anything to do with ‘their’ God.”
Then there is the believing husband. He sees sin in his wife’s life and wonders what would be the best way to approach her about it. After all, they have been married almost twenty-two years and they have parented five children together. His wife’s sin is so glaringly obvious to him but she doesn’t seem to recognize it or do anything about it.
The confrontation begins. The husband seeks the audience of his wife when the house has quieted down for the night. As he speaks in his gentle way, his wife begins to cry. She knew that she had been sinning, but she didn’t do anything about it. After all, she has every right to harbor jealousy in her heart against her husband. He is going to Hawaii to give two speeches, eat spectacular food, walk the beaches, and have a whole week to himself while she is home with the kids, trying to get ready for a trip to her brother’s out-of-state wedding with very little help and so much stress. Jealousy had reared her ugly head. What was the wife going to do about it?
She cannot bear who she has become, a jealous wife. She asks for forgiveness, realizing that he also carries burdens. Maybe not the responsibility to get ready for a trip, but other difficulties such as the burden of a daughter who hates him and won’t have anything to do with him. He carries the load of providing for the family and working hard to make sure all are cared for. He makes sure all his family members are prayed for daily. Why, he needs a week off, to de-stress, to relax, to contemplate, to think, to pray, and to meditate. He will come back from Hawaii refreshed and better able to handle his stress load after his “me time” in the luau state.
The wife sees her husband’s trip in a new light. It gives her energy to wash the twenty loads of laundry, shop for the trip, pack the six suitcases, and close up the house, all without her husband’s help. Even though 4,600 miles separate them, they remain one in heart, in goals, and in purpose.
I am thankful for my husband who had the courage to help me in my growth as a Godly woman, to overcome the sin that reared its ugly head. If I live long enough, I am sure there will be other confrontations.  I thank you, God, for my husband.
“Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have dominion over me.” (Psalm 119:133)
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| | Posted 7/1/2009 8:58 PM - 24 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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