BIBLICAL WIFE

WIVES WORK!

 

Remember this list?  I posted it last summer on JUST WIVES.  We were supposed to add to it as new benefits of being a biblical wife were revealed to us. 

Being a Biblical Wife:

     1.    pleases God  (1 Pet.3:4)

2.    allows you to stand.  (Eph. 6:13)

3.    keeps you from blaming others. (Jas. 5:16)

4.    brings peace (Rom.12:18, Phil. 4:7)

5.    allows you rest. ( Matt. 11:2)

6.    allows your husband to safely trust in you. (Prov. 31:11)

7.    teaches your children to trust in God.  (Prov, 31:28)

8.    makes you beautiful  (1 Pet 3:5)

9.    gives you a gentle and quiet spirit  (1Pet 3:4)

10. helps you to face adversity. (Jas 1:2, Jude 1:24)

11. makes you a gem of great value (Prov. 31:10)

12. lets you join Christ in his suffering (1 Pet 2:22-25

13. allows you to seek God for your grievances (Phil. 4:6)

14. brings you Joy  (Rom. 15:13)

15. helps you develop Godly friendships. (Jas 5:16)

16. encourages you to be unafraid. (1 Pet. 3:6

 

Items fourteen thru sixteen were added this summer.  I want to make another addition to our list today:

       17.  helps your husband listen to your counsel. (Prov.31:11)

 

One day, after I had been struggling with myself in the area of submission for several years, my husband was telling to me about a seriousmatter at work.  I listened carefully to his plan of action, and then suggested a very different course.  I was pleasantly surprised that he considered my comments and discussed them with me.  Even though I knew little about the issue compared to him, he decided to take my approach instead of his own.  He later told me the situation turned out better than he had hoped.

 

What was remarkable about this incident was the absence of tension - you know - that feeling of entering a combat zone.  My husband listened to me!  He apparently did not feel threatened by my suggestions.  We were facing a problem as “one flesh”.  I was immediately reminded of a prayer I have prayed often since I began to pursue becoming a biblical wife.

The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her. . . (Prov. 31:11a KJV)

“Lord, let this be the gift I give to my husband each day.”

 

The importance of this “benefit” cannot be overstated.   As your husband’s help-meet (his suitable helper), you may be the only force standing between him and many destructive pressures.  The Holy Spirit can use you to warn him of dangers he may not see from his position as the head of the family.  I heard a story once of a woman who was the wife of a prominent national bible teacher.  She answered the telephone for him in their hotel room as he prepared for a major speech.  On the line their oldest son asked to speak to his father.  Her husband dismissed the request, telling her to tell the boy he would call him back.  The woman gently told her husband that their son needed to speak to him and placed the telephone on the table.  After taking a few minutes to talk to the boy, her husband thanked her for not letting him confuse his priorities.  Only a truly submitted woman could so adamantly defend her husband and her family.  Being a Biblical Wife is a practical matter, allowing you to do the job God intended for you from the Beginning. 

 (Got an Addition?  Send it along.)

PERSONAL WALK: Receiving Criticism 2

Not Everything That Tastes Bad Is Bad For You!

 

“When you can receive correction and reproof . . , and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart, you are dying to flesh.”

(Helen Trowbridge)

(Transcribed   fron “Drop Dead”, a sermon, August, 2001, in Blue Mountain, PA)

 

Our dear Helen (see above) has raised another issue.  Suppose you are being reproved or corrected by someone who has actually found a fault in you.   A husband, co-worker, supervisor, friend, or ministry leader confronts you with a critical comment or describes an offence you have committed.   This has a bad taste and we don’t like it.  Our natural response is to become self-protective, defending, excusing, or explaining ourselves.  We may even become angry, hostile, or combative.  The dead give-away here is the word ‘self’.   The part of our selves that shows up in these situations is the part that is supposed to die, at our own hands, once we give our lives to Jesus Christ. 

 

Colossians 3:5a, 8-9 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature . . ..  But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices. (NIV)

 

Ephesians 4:31-32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.(NIV)

 

This battle with our flesh continues in some form until the day we die.  What you have done before to occasion such criticism or correction is not nearly as important as what you do next.  If you are being transformed, rather than conformed to the standard of this world, my suggestion is the same as before.  “Take it for what it’s worth.”  You may, in fact, be blameless.  (Remember: Most of us have as much trouble being right as we have being wrong.)  You may owe this person thanks for revealing not only your shortcoming, but your response which needs the transforming power of the Holy Spirit so that that part of your earthly nature can DIE!

 

[Warning: Comments in this series may not sit well with you at first.  My recommendation: Take them for what they are worth.  Perhaps it will all taste better the second time you read it.  (Smile)]