Friday August 30
"If anyone is in
Christ, he is a new
creation.”
2Co 5:17 NKJV
GRACE AT HOME (2)
Here are three more steps to treating your spouse with
grace: (1) See them as God created them to be. Focusing on your
partner’s flaws doesn’t help either of you. The Pharisees saw only the worst in
the woman caught in adultery. Jesus didn’t minimize her sin, but chose to see
what she could become through grace. "I don’t condemn you. Go, and stop what
you’re doing” (See Jn 8:11). Grace enables you to see beyond your spouse’s
upsetting ways and work with God in helping them become the "new creature”
He’s called them to be. (2) Celebrate them. Too often we try to
impose on our spouse our desired image of them. We resent them and insist they
change, see it our way, and do things to our required standard. If they don’t,
we think they’re inconsiderate, unloving, even un-Christian. Grace doesn’t
operate that way! It understands, accepts, forgives, and leaves changing others
up to God. Try telling yourself, "Yes, that annoys me, but I wonder what
God’s trying to work out in my spouse.” Then step back, love and accept them
and let God work on them. (3) Forgive them. Your spouse will irritate
you at times because of what they are. We’re all different. She thinks she’s
detailed; he thinks she’s nit-picking. He thinks he’s laid-back; she thinks
he’s lazy. We act out the image we hold of ourselves, and that’ll change only
when God changes it! Acknowledge your intolerance and forgive your partner’s
irritating behaviors—even before they do them. That’s "pre-emptive
forgiveness,” the kind that denies resentment a toe-hold on your marriage.
Taken from the Word for You Today devotional
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