Love begins at HOME

Love Begins at Home

Jesus’ command in John 15:6 has to do with how I treat my spouse and
children. For single people, it involves how you treat roommates, fellow
Christians, the people closest to you.

There is no getting around it. If I am to become the man and minister God
has called me to be, then my wife must be able to say honestly before
heaven, hell and all the world: “My husband loves me with the love of
Christ. He makes mistakes, but he’s growing more patient and understanding
with me. He’s becoming more tender and caring. And he prays with me. He
isn’t a phony. He is what he preaches.”

But if this isn’t my wife’s testimony—if she has a secret pain in her
heart thinking, “My husband isn’t the man of God he pretends to be” – then
everything in my life is in vain. All my works—the preaching, the
accomplishments, the charitable giving, the many travels—amount to
nothing. I am a withering, useless branch that doesn’t bear the fruit of
Christ-likeness. Jesus will cause others to see the death in me, and I’ll
be worth little to his kingdom.

A middle-aged pastor and his wife came to me brokenhearted and weeping.
The minister told me through tears, “Brother Dave, I have sinned against
God and my wife. I’ve committed adultery.” He shook with godly sorrow as
he confessed his sin to me. Then his wife turned to me and said softly,
“I’ve forgiven him. His repentance is real to me and I’m confident the
Lord will restore us.”

I was privileged to witness the beginning of a beautiful healing. We can
never make up for our past failures. But when there is true repentance,
God promises to restore all that the cankerworm has destroyed.

I wish every couple who enjoys a Christ-centered marriage would rise up
and tell the truth: “It isn’t easy.” Marriage is a day-by-day effort, in
the same way the Christian life is. Like the way of the Cross, it means
giving up your rights daily. Of course, Satan knows your heart is set on
becoming more Christ-like in your home, so he’s constantly going to bring
about trials.

There is no other school as difficult and intense as the school of
marriage. And you never graduate. God makes it clear to us: Our life with
our loved ones is the pinnacle, the very summit, of all our testings. If
we get it wrong here, we’ll have it wrong everywhere else in our life.

David Wilker