Husbands, Love Your Wives

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”

 ~Ephesians 5:25

I’ve always found it amusing that in the Bible wives are not once commanded to love their husbands; they are commanded to show respect for their husbands. On the other hand, husbands are commanded to love their wives. Not just love as in having feelings of affection for, but to love her the way that Christ loved the church. An all-encompassing, sacrificial love - Agape love.

In a biblical view of marriage, a man has an enormous job as husband. He is to be head of his household the way that Christ is head of the church. He is to be the leader of the wife and the children. Not just in a sense that he has to work and support them, which he is commanded to do as well, he is to be a Christian leader and to teach his children the ways of the Lord, and make sure they grow up with a biblical view of life honoring the Lord God. He is to be a shining example of Christian love, and a shining example of a Biblical husband to his wife. He is to be an outstanding member of society and the church; a man that other men look to for direction and to emulate as a husband.

In 1 Timothy 3 there is a list of qualifications for men to oversee the church. It begins with “he must be the husband of one wife” then continues:

"temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well (vv. 2-4)." These are the qualifications a man must have in his own home before he is able to hold any position in church.

This seems like a contradiction to everything that we see going on in the world because everything from God is absolutely contradictory to everything of the world. God has a plan and an order for our lives, including our married lives. When we step out of God’s will and into the lies of the world, we can see the reason for divorce, domestic violence, child abuse, drug addiction, and alcoholism.

God does not allow for a man to be violent for any reason, especially not with his wife and children (Colossians 3:19, 21). Domestic violence is one of the only two reasons allowed for divorce. A man must also support his family. In today’s society, that seems to be lost on a good majority of men. 1 Timothy 5:8 says a man who doesn’t support his family is “worse than an unbeliever.”

Being a husband and father is a huge job filled with immense responsibility. Neither role is to be entered into lightly or without the knowledge that it is a commitment to the Lord for life.

From Shine His Light by Marie McGaha

DWB Publishing  © 2017 

Read Isaiah 1-6 

A Truckers Wife

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

~Colossians 3:23-24

My husband is a truck driver, which isn’t an easy life… not for him or for me. Up until a year ago, he was often gone for weeks at a time and only home a week in between. He spent the first few days sleeping and eating, while I spent those days doing his laundry and getting him ready to go out again. Now he leaves on Sunday and gets in on Friday, so we see each other more often, but since he doesn’t get in till after noon, he’s tired and we turn in early. Saturday is our day to go do something together, like hike the mountains, take the dogs to the river, or go fishing. But I still spend the rest of the day doing his laundry, cooking, and getting ready for him to leave on Sunday. It’s stressful for both of us but it’s the life we’ve chosen. I don’t always like his choice of career because he’s always gone or getting ready to leave, which puts the brunt of homelife on me. From taking care of animals, planting the garden, mowing the lawn, to the rest of the usual housewife duties, it’s all on me. On top of the fact I own my own business, I have a lot to do. But the most important job I ever took on was Nathan’s wife, and the reason he does his job is me. And his job makes my life possible. We are a team in every aspect of our lives and we under-stand that one of us without the other would be devastating to us both. We have a symbiotic relationship, that is, it’s mutually beneficial but it’s so much more. Our relationship is not based on each other simply as human beings but on the idea that when we married, we entered a covenant with God, believing each of us was the person God set aside for us alone, to spend the rest of our lives with, and to be together forever with God in Heaven when this life is over.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me (John 15:4).”

Relationships fail every day. But relationships where God is first, will always survive the hardships of life. It’s not easy giving your life over to another person, trusting them completely, depending on them, and always being there for them. But when you trust God, you trust His plan for your life and trust that the person He brings into your life as a husband or wife, is the perfect person for you. Yes, it’s hard work. Yes, there can be obstacles to overcome. Yes, there will be disagreements and even arguments. There may even be days you feel like giving up but when the Lord is the head of your household, there will be a way to get over the hurdles. God is a family man. He loves us, He loves our spouses, He loves our children. He even loves our mother in-laws. God loves our relationships and when we love Him with all our being and put Him first, our marriages will be blessed and beautiful.

“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).”

Read Song of Solomon

© 2018 Marie McGaha

Reckless Raging Fury

“There's a wideness in God's mercy 
I cannot find in my own 
And He keeps His fire burning 
To melt this heart of stone 
Keeps me aching with a yearning 
Keeps me glad to have been caught 
In the reckless raging fury 
That they call the love of God…”

The Love of God by Rich Mullins, 1985

The above song is one of my favorites. I don’t think Rich Mullins ever did a song I don’t like but this one strikes a chord within my soul. My grandmother was a minister and I grew up hearing about God’s love, salvation, mercy and grace but the life that tossed me about was a striking contrast to what Grandma said was true. Not only was it confusing to a child, it got worse as I got older and saw more of the world and less of what Grandma called truth. The world was a careless, unloving place full of pain and sorrow and God was a concept so far away, I couldn’t fathom His existence on any plain, much less as a loving father. But somehow, that “reckless raging fury” of God’s love found me and pulled me out of the sea of misery that tossed me around for so many years. I can’t tell you how or why without giving the same answers my grandmother did—God loves us no matter what we do, or how we let Him down, and when God calls our name, everything changes.

“’Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,’ says the Lord (Zephaniah 3:19-20).”

All of us feel like outcasts sometimes, and we’ve all done things we are ashamed of but the thing with God is, He has seen every evil thing we’ve done, and He still loves us. God is the only One we never have to prove anything to. We don’t have to dress a certain way, talk a certain way, wear make-up, or do anything to try and impress Him the way we’ve had to do with the people in our lives. God knows the innermost secrets, the hidden things we wouldn’t dare tell a living soul because we know they would kick us to the curb if they knew the real us. But long before we come to the point of confessing our sins to God and accepting Christ as our Savior, He already knew our innermost secrets and the darkest thoughts we’ve had. Yet, He doesn’t care. He loves us anyway, with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), and the wideness of God’s love is immeasurable, incomprehensible, unbelievable, and all-encompassing. His compassion for us is beyond measure and His love is truly a “reckless, raging, fury” because there are no lengths He will not go to, no depths He will not sink to, and no sin He will not forgive in order to have us by His side.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).”

Read Ecclesiastes 5-7

Weekend reading Ecclesiastes 8-11

 © 2018 Marie McGaha

Hook, Line & Sinker

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.”

~James 1:13-15

I like to fish. When I was a kid, we didn’t have a lot, including fishing poles, so we made our own out of tree limbs, tied line to the ends and caught grasshoppers for bait. Fish couldn’t resist those grasshoppers in the water struggling to escape the hook. The water was so clear, we could watch the fish swim toward the grasshopper, bump it, then open their mouths and swallow. As soon as the grasshopper disappeared, we jerked our poles to set the hook, and then ran up the bank, dragging that fish out of the water. We don’t need no stinking reels! Years later, I thought of how I was like those fish, so focused on the grasshopper, they didn’t see the danger of the hook. That’s how sin gets us. We see something, want that thing, think about it, and go after it without considering what might happen once we have it. We can want something—drugs, sex, money—so badly that we go after it without thinking about the hook hidden beneath.

“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-2).”

The gospels tell the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil. He was shown food and riches and all He had to do was bow down and worship satan. Of course, that sounds ridiculous because Jesus already had everything satan offered. He knew who He was and didn’t have to prove anything. He couldn’t be tempted to show off to the devil a little bit either, which is what I think the devil wanted. The devil knew who Jesus was too, but he couldn’t resist trying to get the better of the Son of God; satan does the same thing to us. He isn’t too concerned with those who don’t know the Lord personally, his target is those of us who do. He wants us to fail, he wants us to look at our situations, and at what we don’t have, instead of at Jesus, who gives us salvation and everlasting life. He wants us to look at the bait and forget about the hook. The devil can only tempt us when we let our lusts and desires take control but if we keep our focus on Jesus, He will always stand between us and the devil.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:16-17).”

Read Ecclesiastes 1-4

©2018 Marie McGaha

Delight In the Law of the Lord

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1-2).”

This Psalm continues to tell us that if we obey verses one and two, we will be like a “tree, planted by rivers of water,” and we will “bring forth fruit.” What is this fruit? It is what comes from being obedient to the Word of God. It brings about love, joy, peace, faith, kindness, patience, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These are the attributes of Jesus, and we are to strive to be like Him, “whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked (1 John 2:6).” Our first priority then is to pray that we become more like Jesus, with the same attributes, and to keep His commandments.

Psalm 4 is a prayer for safety of the faithful. When praying Scripture, pick one or two verses that speak to you, and pray them back to God.

“There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”  You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety (Psalm 4:6-8).”

In these verses we see the following truths:

1)   The Lord will show us good and not harm

2)   The Lord’s face is light that shines upon us

3)   The Lord puts joy in our hearts

4)   The Lord gives us peace

5)   The Lord provides our safety

Praying this Scripture might go like this:

“Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your Word and promises to show me good and not harm. I pray you will shine the light of Your face upon me, and put joy in my heart. Thank You for Your peace in my life, and for providing safety for me and my family. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.”

Prayers don’t have to be long and involved, especially when we first begin praying Scripture. Short prayers are just as effective as long, drawn out ones. Being repetitious and droning on in our prayers doesn’t impress God. It is the fervent prayers of a righteous man that availeth much (James 5:16).

From "Keys To The Kingdom" by Marie McGaha © 2018 
Available from Dancing With Bear Publishing Fall 2018

Read Proverbs 21-31

Very Good

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

~Genesis 1:1-2

When I was a kid, the series Star Trek was the greatest sci-fi show on TV, with the most up-to-date special effects. People disappeared in the transporter, we saw the Enterprise fly through the stars at warp speed, and of course, we saw really strange people and creatures from other planets. Sometimes, the planets were inhospitable and wouldn’t support life as we know it, so the crew moved on. Of course, it didn’t take long for technology to leap forward and when I watch the old Star Trek episodes now, the special effects seem so antiquated they’re something we laugh about. We can take what is already there and turn it into something better, something brand new and more efficient but we can’t take nothing and turn it into something. Only God can do that. When God’s Spirit hovered over the face of the waters, He didn’t think it was inhospitable or that nothing could ever come from it. God looked at the waters and thought, I can make dry land. I can make light. I can take some of that dirt and form a human being. And that’s exactly what He did. But He didn’t stop there, He formed that human being from a pile of dirt and then, He did something remarkable, He breathed His own Spirit into that pile of dirt and gave it life. That pile of dirt became the first man—a living, breathing, moving, thinking person. And God said it was “very good.” Up until then, everything created was called “good” but man and woman were “very good.”

“He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:15-17).”

However, man and woman weren’t the point of Creation. Christ has always been the point of Creation, the point of all that ever was or ever will be. We were created for the Creator, to partake in His glory and dominion but never to be above who He is or what He’s done. But the problem is that we like to be first. We like to be at the top. We like people to look up to us. We like people to think we know everything, can do everything, and never fall down. The truth is, we like to feed our egos with the adoration of others and that’s a trap that will keep us from seeing the truth of God in our lives.

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him (Colossians 2:8-15).”

Read Proverbs 11-20

©2018 Marie McGaha

Fortitude and Strength of Character

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, Who forgives all your iniquity, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.”

~Psalm 103:1-5

David had a lot of ups and downs in his life, some of his own doing, and some due to the jealousy of others. He often found himself alone, abandoned by his friends, and pursued by his enemies. David gave in to his own fleshly desires on occasion, he whined and complained, and sometimes, he felt like giving up. I think we can all identify with David in one way or the other. I know I can. But the what I take away from David’s life isn’t that he sinned and did stupid things that caused a lot of pain in his life and the lives of others, but that David always, always came back to God with a contrite heart and repentance. He never let foolish pride stand keep him from confessing his sins and asking forgiveness. To me, it takes more courage to admit you’re wrong and in need of forgiveness than it does to commit those sins in the first place. In fact, I think committing sin only takes pride and a lack of humility. When I was living according to the flesh, it didn’t take any courage at all to sin. In fact, I think sin shows a serious lack of fortitude and strength of character. Standing up and saying, “I was wrong, and I’ve sinned against Jesus Christ, and made a mockery of all He did on the Cross,” takes a whole lot more guts than living with sin does.

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power (1 Corinthians 6:12-14).” 

We were given free will and can choose what we do, when, and with whom but that doesn’t mean it’s good for us. In free will, we can also choose that which will save our lives not just here on earth, but for eternity. Our lives were bought with a hefty price and when we honor our lives, we are honoring God. When we make the choice to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are also making the choice to give up the world around us. No one can ride two horses with one saddle. We can either live in this world as a testimony to what Christ did for us, or we can live as if the world is all that matters. And with either choice, we have chosen the consequences—eternity with Christ, or eternity without Him. When we choose Christ, we are choosing to live a life that takes courage, conviction, fortitude and strength.

“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does (1 Peter 4:1-6).”

Read Proverbs 1-10

©2018 Marie McGaha