I left the glass of milkshake on the counter again at night. My husband, Dave, is a brilliant and talented man. However, sometimes common things related to cooking exceed their capacity.
Now, there was no chance that the embedded pieces of grapes would come out of the glass without making much effort. I started talking to myself (do you do that too?). I don’t have time for that, ” I murmured. I gritted my teeth and started rubbing vigorously, and when Dave walked into the kitchen, I sinched angrily and increased the intensity of friction. “Wow, I hope I can clean that glass you didn’t rinse.
- Dave apologized and said he’d forgotten.
- What a lack of education.
- I thought.
- ” He knows how much I work.
- The least I could have done was rinse the glass.
- Rude? But in truth.
- I was the bad guy and I knew it.
- The Holy Ghost recalled the famous passage on love in 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient.
- It is good; love does not burn with jealousy.
- Does not boast.
- Does not swell.
- Does not behave in an inconvenient way.
- Does not seek its interests.
- Does not exasperation.
- Does not feel bad; rejoice not in injustice.
- But in truth; everything suffers.
- Everything believes.
- Everything waits.
- Everything supports.
- Love never ends.
- (1 Corinthians 13:48).
- The new international version translates verse eight as “love never perishes”.
I knew I hadn’t shown love. Again, I fail at that every day. What hope is there for me to sacrifice my life as Jesus did, when I cannot love others by doing something as simple as washing a glass?My only hope must be in the God who is: compassionate, forgiving and patient and great in mercy and fidelity?(Exodus 34. 6)
It’s a stereotypical example of my life. I am the wife of a busy church implanter and a mother of three, the four-year-old boy. We live in the Middle East, where sand permeates every crack in windows and doors, leaving a film of sand that muds on the ground. I wash eight baskets of clothes and cut my nails to all my family members once a week.
So I loved writing this book. I need this message of grace and hope every day, so sometimes I get into an attitude of self-pity, like the one you just read, I used to think that this bitter attitude about maintaining the house was necessary. , acceptable and even a rite of initiation. After all, a common stimulus for someone in the middle of the trenches of the house or raising children is comforting therself with thoughts like “It will happen too”; “we suffer and endure”; and we’re talking about everything we’re going to do?someday, when our lives are “back to normal. “
These phrases, so common, were the summary of my hope, I thought that if I managed to pass this horrible and seemingly endless season, I would leave the other side bruised and exhausted, but with the mission finished. In this way, he would be free to serve the Lord with joy and be satisfied.
But I was wrong
When I attended a couples conference, given by Paul Tripp, he said something that devastated me. Tripp said, “If God does not fix your day, then He does not rule you. Why is this where you live? Drama and life- Changing moments rarely happen in our lives, so they are dramatic The other days are lived in a common, usually secular way.
Running the house is my routine. Whatever your daily life, I’m sure we can agree: this is where we live.
I know that serving my family is like serving Jesus, and as I manage my home, I have to work as for the Lord. Colossses 3:23-24 said, “Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, as for the Lord. and not for men, knowing that you will receive the reward of the Lord’s inheritance. Christ, the Lord, do you serve?
We must consider the administration of our homes, such as the creation of a living organism that produces the peace of Christ and the righteousness of God. Statements like that have been very encouraging.
I have already believed in the scriptures by excelling the role of the housewife as something of enormous value. I had no problem seeing home care significantly in the light of eternity. Eternal perspective? I’m done, but what’s going on today?Is it included in the scope of eternity? Tripp’s comment reminded me that the Bible has much to say about the ordinary. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Therefore, whether you eat, drink, or for the glory of God. “
Of course, I want to glorify God! He is the supreme gift of the whole universe, he is worthy of everything in me, at the bottom of my being, my greatest desire is to give glory to God, I even considered transcribing the catechism of Westminster into my wall to help me remember this. Truth:
Question 1: What is man’s primary purpose?
Answer: Man’s primary purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
I was not in doubt whether or not I should fulfill my goal of glorifying God in everything. I knew living for your glory should be my greatest joy. How can I fold my clothes and separate battles between brothers and sisters for the glory of God when I am so prone to failure because of my sin?How does the gospel make me a woman who cleanses, with passion, the bathroom and the dirty?nose, as for the Lord, how does the gospel make me a woman eager to honor God in the way she folds clothes and serves dinner?
How does my heavenly citizenship (Philippians 3:20) change the way I run my home?
If he? God’s world is for ordinary people, who do everyday things, so certainly the scriptures talk about how we can magnify God in everyday life, and if ordinary moments, crockery and diapers, can be done for the purpose of enjoying God, then the spiritual vitality we will experience at home is simply miraculous.
Is there a chance to grow in holiness right under your nose?Sitting in the hot dishwasher, stirring in the laundry basket, on her crowded dining table and under the car seat, where her baby kept the leftover cereal bar for later. this hairy mold can grow there, but right now, there is also a growth in holiness.
From where we are exactly, we can glimpse grace by learning passages such as Colossus 3:13, which says, “Wherefore, if you have risen with Christ, seek things from above, where Christ lives, sitting at the right hand. Think of the things above, not the things here on earth; Why are you dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God?
God powerfully gives our ministry to existence and our works done by faith (2 Thessalonians 1:11). Therefore, this nth layer of filth can be an important means of God’s transformative work in his life.
Let’s look at Chapter 2 of Titus as an example. Tite 2 is a basic and practical list of qualities that a devoted woman must have and do. Women should be serious in their behavior, not slanderers or wine slaves (Tite 2. 3). Women should be sensible, honest, good, kind and submissive. housewives (Tite 2. 5). Women should be teachers of good (i. e. , the “healthy doctrine” of Tite 2. 1) to teach newlyweds to love their husbands and children (Tite 2. 4).
Titus 2 doesn’t just contain a to-do list that you could put as a reminder in the bathroom mirror. Titus 2 also gives us the motivation to do such things, then?Isn’t the word of God defamed? (Titus 2. 5) and to adorn in all the doctrine of God our Savior?(Titus 2. 10). Can’t you write the motivation in a reminder?must be written in the heart.
How does this pattern fit into our hearts to adorn the gospel of God?Our hearts must be transformed by Christ. Verse 11 says, “For the grace of God was shown to save all men. “In verse 12, Paul adds that this grace “educates us so that, renounced from evil and worldly passions, we may live reasonably, accurately, and piously in the present century”
Evangelical motivation is presented with the promise of future hope; In doing these things, we hope for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify us, people exclusively of his, jealous of good works?(Titus 2. 13-14).
This is where faith comes in and that is where the moment of truth comes from, when I look at the cross and see that God has not forgiven his own son for me (Romans 8. 32) and I await his promise of future glory (Titus 2. 13), it gives me the power to joyfully cleanse my husband’s disorder, who forgot to rinse the glass and not boil with rage , verbally assaulting him.
I can imagine what you need to think right now, because I’m thinking about it too. I think it’s true, but I have a lot to do against me. I can’t remember this idea long enough to ponder it. I can already hear the constant sounds of the baby coming from the next room through the babyphone. I can’t apply these truths regularly. So, what do we do?
If you’re like me, then you have to be willing to give up. It’s very tempting for me. I observe the high standards of holiness and know that I cannot reach them. In that case, I could just go back to the dirty dishes, mutter to myself and make sarcastic comments about how many times have I remembered you?Hoping to embarrass my husband to the point of sincerely confessing to him how wrong he was and I was right (when did this strategy really work?).
Or you could approach this situation in a different way. I know the Bible says to do all things silently and hold fast to the gospel (Philippians 2:14); and I want to do the right thing. God teaches us how to love one another (1 Thessalonians 4. 9). I want to honor God in everything I do, just as 1 Corinthians 10:31 says. I decide that I need to try harder. So I am attaching a note with Philippians 2:14 to the window over the lavatory, to remind me that I must not sin. And then I wash the dishes and check my tongue as my husband walks through the kitchen. Subsequently, I was able to avoid offensive comments and conflicting dishes to get my husband’s attention and possible apologies. Good work, Gloria, you did. I congratulate myself on a job well done. My conviction, however, reveals that I have another issue on my hands: self-approval. The tolerance I showed in the kitchen was apparently not the fruit of the Spirit. It had its roots in sinful pride. At the end of the day, am I immersed in self-approval? rejoice with pride or depressed with guilt, because I could have done a better job.
Dirty dishes aren’t the biggest problem of my life, even if they seem to be, when they’re piled up to the ceiling, I have a million more things to do. The biggest problem in mine and in your life is sin. How can I stand before the God who does everything according to his character, a character that includes perfect justice (2 Thessaloniki 1. 6)?