Encouragement

We all have weaknesses and we all need encouragement. The Lord convicted me and humbled me as I finished up a lesson of my Hebrews Bible study covering verses 6:9-20. These verses are encouraging words for us "who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us".

It's not the verses that humbled me, but they strengthened me. The humbling part was in the Bible study worksheet itself. At the end there's a "Personal Evaluation" paragraph. It says,

"Encouraging words abound in these few verses. The author teaches that God initiates our safety and the Lord Jesus guards it for us. We have not earned God's kindness and care, yet God chooses to encourage us. Everybody needs encouragement. You and I need to imitate His pattern of behalf of those with whom we live and work and worship. Encouragement is often most needed when it is least deserved. Perhaps someone you know or love needs encouraging words from you right now."

The humbling part is the statement, "Encouragement is often most needed when it is least deserved." If I can be frank, I can think of a lot of people who cause, or have caused, me grief and my tendency is to judge them, or to hide from them, because I don't think they deserve anything better. But the fact of the matter is that they probably need my encouragement most. The folks with Community Bible Study didn't pull this concept out of thin air but there is much to say about it in scripture. Here's a few references.

Ephesians 5:1-2.
Galatians 6:1-2.
Luke 6:27-31.

So, Christian, I encourage you. If God gives you strength and He leads you to someone needing encouragement, do so. Practice this because we cannot be instantly good at conveying God's encouragement to others. Also, if you feel discouraged do not be afraid to ask someone else for encouragement.

Marriage for Men - Study 3

Husbands, I have some rhetorical questions.

• What do you do at work at about 11:45am, and the hunger pangs start to nag at your belly?
• If you spilled coffee on yourself, what do you do about it?
• What do you do when you're driving your car and the clouds break letting sunlight beam in through the windshield directly in your line of sight?

Ephesians 5:28 says, "In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies." I believe Paul is address the physical aspects of marriage in the following verses. I've heard some interpret verses 28 through 33 to refer to a husband and wife's sexual relationship. However I believe that alone makes it a narrow interpretation. I searched the Web and found the Christian Classics Ethereal Library discussion of Ephesians 5 which goes into many possible interpetations and I think the word "conjugal" comes up only twice.

In browsing and reading the CCEL commentary it brings up probably a very important aspect about verse 31 that says, "and the two will become one flesh". As it says, the reason why a husband should love his wife as his own body is because his wife is his body. And again as I have mentioned in an earlier post, we husbands will not know what our wife needs unless we are careful to listen. If you spill coffee on yourself, the problem is obvious and the solution is clear because of the senses that are natural to our bodies. To respond similarly to a need of our wives we must be sensitive.

Becoming one flesh and being one flesh is a manifest in marriage. Jesus says in Matthew 19:6, "So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." Husband, are you tempted to just give up? Does marriage seem simply impossible for you? I say, "don't give up". Just stop and listen for a moment. Does Jesus ask us to do the impossible? Suprisingly, He does. Didn't he tell a paralyzed man to pick up his mat and go home? Look in Mark Chapter 2 and you see He did, and the paralized man obeyed, and not under his own power but under God's provision and it was for God's glory.

Finally, some admonishment for husbands. Let what you do in marriage be ultimately for God's glory. Ephesians 5:22-33 is more than just basic marriage instruction. To me is seems to be a call for a man to be a man. More is discussed on what a man should do than what a woman should do. So let us obey God and be men, be leaders, and be respected by our wives.