I had to share this! It hit me hard...
"I heard pastor and author Paul Tripp make the above statement at a conference a few months ago. I almost fell off the church pew. Tripp was obviously making a point, and it's this: nowhere in Scripture does God promise that our husbands will love us. Likewise, nowhere does He promise that wives will respect their husbands. The delivery of a wise, humble, attentive spouse (or a spouse at all, for that matter) is not guaranteed.
Logically, then, we don't need a husband's love to be a good wife, nor do we need a wife's respect to fulfill the role of godly husband. Expecting as much breeds an attitude of entitlement and denies the truth that "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). Moreover, it fosters a paralysis borne out of the assumption that our hands are tied because of the action (or inaction) of another, when in reality we have everything we need in Christ.
We are selfish people. We want others to meet our needs. We expect them to, quite frankly. And the minute we see them failing—threatening to disappoint, underdeliver, slack off or abandon us altogether—we cry "foul." We often see this dynamic play out in marriage (who doesn't know someone who got married for the purpose of having a partner meet their perceived needs?), but if we look closely, it manifests itself in many, if not most, of our relationships.
A great way to sum up this week's content is with a portion of the Scripture memory passage from this summer's Boundless Summer Challenge. Second Corinthians 5:14-15 states, "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." Whether you're living it out in friendships, marriage, family, at work or on the street, abandoning your wants and needs to the wants and needs of others is no small task. But it's a picture of the Gospel, and it's a beautiful thing."
Lisa (Boundless Webzine)
