He makes provision

In John 21, I found three instance of Christ providing for His disciples in different ways.  First, He supplied them with plenty (of fish) as they worked.  Then, by the time they got to shore He had a meal prepared (of fish also).  Then, as they were talking, He supplied His church with a conduit for His provision in Simon Peter, when he said three times that Peter was to feed Christ's sheep.

Joh 21:4-13  But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. (5) Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. (6) And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.(7)  Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.  (8)  And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.  (9)  As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.  (10)  Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.  (11)  Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
(12) Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. (13) Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.

Joh 21:15-17  So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.  (16)  He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (17)  He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

We are to love our wives as Christ loved the Church.  A part of that is being thoughtful about providing for and nourishing our wives...not just by supplying money by working, but by recognizing current and future needs of all sorts and ensuring that as God enables us, they are provided for.  While He is The Provider, He has made us His typical means of provision for our wives, similar to how He provided for His sheep by sending them Peter to feed them.  While there are several areas in which we ought to be providing for our wives, He has specifically singled husbands out as a means for spiritual nourishment through the Word:

Eph 5:25-28  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  (26) That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (27) That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (28) So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

1Co 14:34-35  Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.  (35)  And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Our wives need us to be able to feed them and answer questions, which sets the bar high, so come on, hoser...we need to be digging into the Word!

Loving God.

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these" Mark 12:29-31

My job, it seems, as I read this verse, is to constantly point/lead my wife to continual focus on the one God. How can I do this? Well I have ten years of marriage of how not to do it.

We are going on vacation this week and here is what I commit to do.

1 - Study, not just read, scripture together every day

2 - Pray intently, not just to get it over with so we can go to bed

3 - Be intentionally about our discussions, let them be Christ centered, not just everything but

the not just reflect what I typically have but not what I will do...

No limits...

Reading through John's account of the passion of Christ, when read with the question, "What example did Christ's love for His church set for us as husbands loving our wife?" was a little intimidating.  I don't think we can ever say "enough" about what is required of our love for our wives.  Christ didn't just die a death, He died a terrible death because of His love for us, and He walked steadily and intently toward that death with His eyes fully opened.

I know at times I feel like I have done "enough" to be a "good husband".  But...I am wrong.  I am not aiming to be a "nice" husband, I am aiming for Christ's love for my wife.  I fail constantly, but that doesn't change the goal.  This relationship with my wife is my God-given opportunity to choose to be like Him and allow His providential choices for me to mold me into what He created me to be.  Any time I think or feel "enough", I am choosing to reject His work in my life.

All of this has revealed my almost incapacitating selfishness compared to Christ's love, and I need His help!

Be Careful!

How many times have you said be careful to your wife as she has left the house? What exactly were you talking about? Was it (1) her driving, (2) other people's driving, or (3) could it have been the deceitfulness of someone she may encounter?

Mark 8:15 "Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod"

So do we say "be careful" for the sake of saying it? Is it a way of loving her more? I think that I can love Patty by demonstrating my concern for her safety, that is physical, emotional, and spiritual.

It is commonplace in America to caution someone about "physical" safety. For example, it is the law that every Kid in shall be in a car seat, however, children are permitted to watch inappropriate TV shows and movies, participate unsupervised internet (e.g. social networking), sexting etc. Today our culture is more concerned about physical safety and disregards spiritual safety. I think this is an incorrect view of relationships.

Challenge: intentionally look out for you wife's spiritual safety and warn her as needed.

Sanctified by the word

So, we keep on talking about "washing her with the water by the word" from Ephesians 5, and I ran across this great cross-reference in Christ's High-Priestly Prayer from John 17 that might shed a little more light on what that means.  It's talking about the Word and washing and truth.

Joh 17:14-21  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  (15)  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  (16)  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  (17)  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.  (18)  As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.  (19)  And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.  (20)  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;  (21)  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

You should definitely watch the first video in "The Truth Project" if you haven't yet.  It's all about truth and how to find it.  And, boy, do you need it!  (and your wife).  The teacher talks about the insanity of believing something that is not true as if it were truth, and concluded that we are all insane, because we all believe, and act on, lies.  We love our wives by believing and teaching them the truth, making Christ and His Word central in our family!

I'm hungry.  When's lunch you hoser?  If you don't buy me lunch soon, I think, as interest you will need to buy me some Kentucky Breakfast Beer!

Peace

"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other" - Mark 9:50

When I last wrote, I discussed my pathetic attempt to protect my wife from someone who had injured her. That is very difficult to do by just a exchanging comments on the internet. Well this literary confrontation has caused stress in our lives. We have longed for peace.

Why does Christ tell His followers to "be at peace with each other"? My conclusion is He loves us and desires our energy to be focused on glorifying Him and not on attention getting, time consuming, and unpeaceful life choices. I, as her husband, will work to find places in our life that peace is missing and seek to establish it.

Daddy: Josiah, what is peace?

Josiah: I think peace is loving, obeying your mom and dad, and not doing bad things to each other

Steady at the helm

Joh 13:4-10  (4)  He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.  (5)  After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.  (6)  Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?  (7)  Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.  (8)  Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.  (9)  Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.  (10)  Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

Jesus knew exactly what ought to be done: washing his disciples feet.  Peter rushed in and said "absolutely not" because he had false presuppositions: that the master should not serve the student.  Jesus corrected his misapprehension, and Peter swung the other way asking to be washed more than necessary, but Jesus again corrected his understanding.

The problem in transferring this thought to husbanding is that I don't see as clearly as Christ does.  Often, in fact my wife sees more clearly than I do.  But I have been given responsibility, so I need to work very hard to understand the Lord's will for me and my family, and then be "steady at the helm" when what God has called me to do runs counter to what the culture around us has told both my wife and I to think and expect.  When the waters get rough, I need to be steadily looking to the Lord for truth, so I can in turn love my wife by continuing to lovingly proclaim the truth to her.

A husband loves her more than all others...

Mark 3:33-35 " "Who are my mother and brothers?" He asked. Then He looked at those seated in a circle around Him and said "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother, sister and mother" "

Christ loved his church. In fact, he did so much so that he chose to replace His blood family with the ones who would do His father's will. I think a husband should love his wife more than all others. This is challenging when you have a large family. Does this mean more than kids too? I do know that loving her is choosing her over all others, supporting her with parenting, work, etc. Loving her is always siding with and defending her.

You see we had posted a video of Abby having a status seizure on youtube. The intention being a platform to share it with certain medical professionals. Well, we forgot that it was still up and someone wrote a very nasty, profane post about the author of the video, Patty. Well fortunate for me (I would probably be in jail right now) I could not personally find this 23 year old who said these things. I did however craft some carefully chosen words to deliver a literary butt-whipping'. Was this the "right" thing to do? Probably not, but it did help Patty recover from this wound knowing that I would defend her. Would I have done more if I knew who he was? I am just glad I don't...

Protection

Joh 10:7-18  "Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.  (8)  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.  (9)  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.  (10)  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  (11)  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.  (12)  But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.  (13)  The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.  (14)  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.  (15)  As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.  (16)  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.  (17)  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  (18)  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."

So, Jesus had just been telling the disciples the parable, and as usual, they were confused, so this is the explanation.

Two things stood out to me here.  One was that Christ said that, as opposed to those that come to steal He was "come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."  Christ is our head as we are our wives head, and our wives ought to be able to say that we have contributed toward an overflowing of life for them.

The other thing was Christ's choice to love the Church by laying His life down for it.  How often do I balk at laying my life down for Gracie?  Christ is both my Example and my Provider and Sustainer.  Lord, help me to bless and love my wife.