 | ||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Focus on Jesus
Satan may divert our minds from Jesus to our husbands and marriage, not on healthy level, but obsessed with changing it and fixing it. Those old "supposed to be's" and "wishes and wants". I know that these problems are real and the pain is real associated with them. They are valid desires. Maybe we would like our husband to spend more time with us, or comfort us when we are sad, or talk to us in a more intimate way. The fact is that we cannot change people, as I have mentioned before. Satan will feed our minds with junk --- such as "look at what he's doing now! He doesn't love you. If he did, he would act like this or he would say that."
Although it would be wonderful if our marriages were perfect and we had perfect romance, friendship, and love. The fact is that Jesus should be the center of our lives, not our husbands. We should not give up hope that our relationships with our husbands will get better someday. We shouldn't give up hope that are marriages will be more like the image that we have. But what we do accept is that for now, that's the way it is. For now, all I can do is wait on the Lord, and He will renew my strength.
Instead of thinking, "How can Jesus affect my relationship with my husband," think "How can my husband affect my relationship with Jesus." How can I use this opportunity to serve Jesus. Now, everything that happens is an opportunity to earn a treasures in heaven . Is this greedy or materialistic? No, because Jesus tells me to do it. He tells me to think about my treasures in heaven and store them up. So I cannot believe that it's a bad thing to do. I'm not sure what these treasures are or what they will be used for. But I'm sure it will be wonderful and I want to have a part in it. Maybe I will use my treasures to honor Jesus when I get to heaven. So I'll have something to give Him. I'm not sure.
Jesus said we cannot serve two masters. We will either hate the one and serve the other or love the one and despise the other. We all have an “image” of what we would like our marriage to be and we have the reality of what it is.
We will either love our image and hate the real thing; or we can spend our life "serving" our image by trying to obtain it, or accepting and enjoying the one we have.
It's all perspective. What will I choose? Will I waste my time and energy on this or spend it a more productive way. Seeking the Lord.
Psalm 27 says:
One thing I have desired of the Lord
This will I seek
To dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
and the behold the beauty of the Lord
and inquire in His temple.
What are we seeking? Is our main, number-one goal in life seeking the Lord and His face or is it seeking our husband's face? Jesus said seek the kingdom FIRST and all these other things will be added to us as well.
My sister told me this analogy once.
How do I do good and show the love of Jesus when I feel empty?
Consider a glass with suds in the bottom of the glass. You try to pour it out but it will not come. But if you fill the glass with water and keep filling it the suds will eventually just bubble up and pour over the sides of the glass with no effort whatsoever.
Those suds are the love and good that we could share to our husbands or anyone else. On our own we cannot give love, we cannot do good. But if we allow God to fill us up with "Himself" than that love and joy and good will just pour out of us with no effort.
What are you filling yourself up with? Images of what we want or need in this life? Or are you seeking God and His face -- His beautiful face. It sounds easy or maybe it sounds like an empty promise. But I just know that if we sought him, we would find out what He means when He says "He gives life in abundance" and "our joy will be complete". Oh, to know Jesus this way!