I Almost Didn’t Read My Bible Today-And Then It Hit Me

I was getting ready to leave this morning, and debating in my mind whether or not I wanted to spend some time reading my Bible. I had already read a puritan prayer, and listened to a short Ask Pastor John podcast, so maybe I was good for the day. If I hit the road now, I’d have some extra time to get work done, and besides I can find time tonight to read, or even if I don’t-I can just read tomorrow morning. That’s what I had decided. I have this conversation with myself all the time. I convince myself of this conclusion many a mornings!

And then while I was pulling on my sweater my elbow hit the sharp edge of my closet.

My first reaction-was painger (made up word …it’s a mixture of pain and anger). I am embarrassed to share that I literally glared at the wooden edge that afflicted me. For about 3 seconds-I was mad. Fortunately, the painger quickly passed, and my immediate thought afterwards was, “Wow. I do need to read my Bible today”. I need it today and every day. I need it because my initial reaction to things is anger. I need it because I am prone to wander. I need it because I am selfish, and forgetful. I need it because my sin nature rules me even more when I’m not in communion with Him through those pages. I need it because I don’t know God as well as I want to. I don’t want to coast through my day with a morning spiritual snack-if I want the peace, joys, and satisfaction of a Christian life-I should gleefully put the time into it. I want a buffet breakfast of fellowship with the God who loves me.It’s not motivated by guilt or obligation-reading my Bible this morning was motivated by need.

So yeah, I got started with work a little later than I would have liked to today. And no, my time in Genesis 24 & 25 wasn’t magical or life changing. But it was good to commune with the Lord. It was good to read about the kindness and the graciousness in God. It was good to be reminded of how much more of that I want in me. I hope next time I am tempted to skip out on my time with God, I think about my real needs-and I hope you do too.

A Question for my Married Friends

So this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while.

The Old Testament is full of the relationship between God and his chosen people being compared to a husband and wife. And then Jesus, in the New Testament of course, says that awesome bit in Ephesians 5 about husbands loving their wives as Christ loves the church. So I infer that the opposite is also true. Wives then are to love their husbands like the church love Christ, right?

So I’ve been asking myself, what does that really look like?

This is what I’ve come up with. God/Christ/Husband Figure is supposed to be the pursuer, the delighter, the sustainer, and the provider. That is what God does with his people. He chooses us, he lavishes love and (TOTALLY UNDESERVED) grace upon us. He is the one that keeps the relationship together. Though we are prone to wander (Lord, I feel it!), it is HE who fights for our unity. He gives his children all that they need and satisfies them.

The proper response of the church-is to be crazy about Jesus, right? We are to be all about praising Him, and lifting Him up,and helping others see Him as glorious and awesome as He truly is. We should LOVE being with Him more than ANY other thing, and we should respond to his love with delight and thanksgiving. We should be ALL ABOUT serving Him, and ALL ABOUT pleasing Him because we are so grateful for the way that He loves us.

Right?

And our marriages are supposed to reflect that, right? OBVIOUSLY, no couple will ever be perfect. And OBVIOUSLY we should NOT worship our husband, and we DON’T save our wives. But in a smaller, defaced humanistic sort of way, isn’t that what it should look like to the outside world and feel like to us?

I need to know what my married brothers and sisters think, because I know I dream big and am a die hard optimist. Am I seeing this correctly?

One day I hope to be married, and I so badly want people to watch the interactions my husband and I have, and say “that’s awesome”. So that my response will be: It’s awesome because it’s a reflection of God and us. And then they’ll be all like “whaaa” and I’ll tell them the gospel, and how awesome God’s love is, and how easy it is for me to serve Him with my life because of his love. Then I want to look to my awesome husband, and point out that though he is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar from perfect (am I equally, if not farther from it), he loves me awesomely, which makes it’s easier to selflessly serve him.

Where am I wrong in this analysis? Where am I right? Help a sister out!