Relationships grow when rooted in the love of Christ. Christ’s love was shown in the doing of a hard thing. Christ’s love was sacrificial. We don’t have to sacrifice for our salvation. Jesus Christ did that on the Cross for us. It’s done… once and for all. Believing that, we’re called to live as forgiven people who also forgive others. In a working marriage, husband and wife are constantly forgiving each other. A particular “need” or “want” may be sacrificed for the sake of the relationship. Such sacrifice cannot be measured, but is a fragrant offering to God.
During my lifetime, women have been told they have the right to have their needs met. A “good” husband is expected to meet those needs. But, what if he doesn’t?
Time and experience wrapped in God’s Word speak.
“I thought I could change him.”
A friend wasted so many years trying to “fix” her husband. She pushed, prodded and regularly reminded him of his failures. In time, she realized that her techniques never worked. Instead of trying to change him, she asked God for a changed attitude. Little by little, she learned that it was her job to love her husband and God’s job to change him. 1 Peter 3:1-5 reminds a wife that she can win even an unbelieving husband with respect, pure conduct, and a quiet spirit.
“He doesn’t make me happy.”
A friend admitted that she was very dependent on her husband for her happiness. She married him because he seemed strong, stable, and confident. She expected him to take care of her like a good dad would take care of his daughter. So focused on her own insecurities, she didn’t see that he, too, was sometimes fearful, unsure, and struggling. One day, she adjusted her prayers. “Please, dear God, help me be a better wife.” She welcomed him at the door with a smile. She asked him about his day. She left cheerful and encouraging notes on his mirror, by his plate, and inside his boots. It sounds rather magical, but in choosing her words with care and thinking of little ways to make her husband happy, this wife became more content. She had a purpose. She was serving God and He was surprising her with joy. Joy is a fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
“I feel more worthless with him than I think I would without him.”
A woman does not get her identity from her husband. Treasured or abused, her value does not come from man. Nor does our identity change with the circumstances of life. Our identity — our value — is sure and certain because of what Jesus Christ did for us. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1).
“He’s such a disappointment.”
For many years, the wife mourned her marriage. She was sure that God had made a mistake. We’re too different, she thought. This will never work. Quite unexpectedly, the woman realized she really wasn’t fighting her husband, she was fighting God. Focusing on her disappointment, she was paralyzed to think or do good. Over time, she began to zero in on her husband’s strengths and minimize his weaknesses. Every time he acted in an annoying way, she chose to think about his positive attributes. She stopped criticizing him to her friends and started speaking well of him. People of light “encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 4:5, 11).
“He doesn’t seem to care about meeting my needs.”
No matter what the feminists told us, men and women aren’t the same. Equal, yep. But, not the same. So, first of all, men can’t know all of our needs because they don’t think, feel, or communicate like we do. And, second of all, shame on us for idolizing ourselves! Are we called to be served, or to serve? Honestly, who really knows our needs: us… or the One who made us? A wife of many years put it this way: “I’ve learned that my husband is meeting my greatest needs. His faithfulness is my security. His labor provides financial covering and numerous freedoms. Our shared faith makes us companions even when times are hard. Does he love me? Yes. It is shown in his perseverance (1 Corinthians 13:7).”
“I don’t feel loved.”
Maybe we have the wrong definition of love. If it’s an emotion, sometimes we’ll feel it and sometimes we won’t. Love is better defined as the willingness to act for the benefit of another. Love is being patient, kind, and unselfish (1 Corinthians 13:4-6). I have found that love is when a husband and wife, in spite of differences, want to be a team. “Two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-11). This is a world made hard by sin. When the enemy of life stands at the door ready to devour us, feelings and emotions will provide little defense. But, real love evidenced by selfless partnership will overpower evil. “A threefold cord (husband, wife, and Christ) is not quickly broken” (v. 12).
“Everyday, he grows more distant.”
A woman has great power. She can break or make a man. She can crush a man’s spirit — with a look or a word — or she can help his spirit soar. When she emasculates him, brashly or subtly, her dagger slices deep to his masculine core to attack his very personhood. No wonder it is better for him “to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife” (Proverbs 21:9). Indeed, “the wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down” (Proverbs 14:1).
Marriage is a hard dance. Not surprising when we remember that we are sinful people living in a sin-filled world. Not surprising when we acknowledge that men and women are equal, but different. Not surprising when we consider our uniqueness as persons. For this reason, we need the Word of God as our music. Only then does the dance begin to change.
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What makes the greatest difference for me in my daily life? Knowing my identity.
Ezerwoman's Blog 
Men and Worship
Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Identity, Vocation, tagged divine worship, feminization of church, holy, masculine, music, opinions, spiritual warfare, worship on December 22, 2010| 2 Comments »
The Barna Research Group reports that American churches are two-thirds female and one-third male. There is strong evidence to support that music may be one explanation. Instead of asking, “What music do people want to hear?,” we should be asking, “What music is appropriate and pleasing to God?”
Men like my pastor, Rev. Paul Beisel; Rev. Todd Wilken (host of Issues, Etc.); author Douglas Bond (Fathers and Sons Stand Fast in the Way of Truth); and author David Murrow (Why Men Hate Going to Church) have articulated what I am discovering to be true. Contemporary worship leans toward the emotions and perceived needs of women and, perhaps, some “sensitive” men. But, what about men who tend to think and act like, well, like men? Do they have to put their masculinity aside in order to “meet Jesus”?
In contemporary worship, women may comfortably sway with the music, close eyes or be “moved” to tears, and show other visible signs of emotion. But, what does God tell us about men? He created male and female to be equal, but different. God did not create man and woman at the same time, in the same way, or for the same purpose. Non-Christian therapists might not phrase it the way I just did (using Genesis), but years ago, I read a helpful secular book entitled Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus in which the author repeatedly illustrated that men and women do not communicate, think, love, feel or respond in the same way. It makes sense, then, that contemporary worship and music might be one reason why our churches are filled with two-thirds women but only one-third men.
Church growth folks say we need to appeal to a contemporary public. This public flocks (like sheep) to loud, energized, and high-tech amusements where celebrities say things that make us “feel good.” Rather than being different, are Christian churches shapeshifting as if to say, “See! We’re as good as the world”? Is it a good idea to imitate “the nations” around us (2 Kings 17:15) in order to be evangelical? I’m aware that I ask this question a lot but, really, does Jesus wrap Himself around the ways of the world?
I have been told by other Christians that any kind of music — loud, rock, rap or polka — can become gospel. But, in his book Stand Fast, Douglas Bond reminds me of two things. In the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis describes heaven as a region of music and silence. The demon Screwtape is frustrated by this reality: ‘Music and silence — how I detest them both!'” Screwtape, the diabolical demon, boasts: “We will make the whole universe a noise in the end.” Later, Bond writes, “Beware. If entertainment-evangelism advocates can convince you that music is amoral, merely a matter of taste, then the discussion ends — and so does discernment. Wise young men, however, will be suspicious of conclusions that sweep away moral judgment.” He also writes, “. . . [L]oud entertainment music . . . conveys its own message. Certainly it makes people clap and feel exhilarated, but it’s not conducive to careful thinking about the whole counsel of God.”
Some Christians say, “Traditional (liturgical) worship is too difficult,” but, what other important things in life are difficult?
Bond continues, “Though the Bible is clear that Christ is ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense’ (1 Peter 2:8 NKJV, quoting Isaiah 8:14), we’re still afraid to offend the world. The Spirit of God removes the offense only through the objective truths of the Word of God — the very thing that postmodern Christians are watering down in their music. Little wonder, then, that the church looks and sounds and acts like the world — instead of the reverse.”
Until recently I, too, believed I needed a little more contemporary music albeit in a traditional worship environment. But, as a mother of sons and grandmother of grandsons, I’m being re-directed away from my “feelings” to understand what the Divine Service really is and why I need it. Why my family needs it.
So, here’s where I stand. The Creator of male and female gives us not what we want, but what He knows we need. We may want to “feel good” singing love songs to Jesus, but we need to be equipped for battle against powers and principalities. The Psalmist and other great male hymn writers knew this. In his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress,” Luther wrote,
My grandsons are spellbound by the battles between good and evil in C.S. Lewis’ land of Narnia. In this present culture war, my grandsons need the armor for battle — and the songs that inspire them to fight the good fight.
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