But
Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out
to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over
the spot and cure me of my leprosy.” ~ 2 Kings 5:11
Has the following ever happened to you? You went to church or small group and you hear
a success story about how someone’s marriage was revived after being nearly
dead and you think, “We need that. I will
find out what they did and do that and my
marriage will also be revived.” So you
get your spouse to wherever you heard the message with the full expectation
that because your spouse has arrived, the “magic” will happen and they will see all that they’ve done wrong. So you bring them to the person who had the
success story, waiting for them to “wave a magic wand” over your spouse—or perhaps
you’re waiting for the person to beat your spouse with it—so that BAM! your marriage
can be a success story, too.
But it never seems to go that way, does it? In fact, it usually turns out worse and you
end up leaving in a big fight, still pointing fingers at each other. Why is that?
We do we look at our spouse as if they were sweaty gym socks or wilting
roses? I once heard a pastor say that the
reason we don’t see the beauty in each other is because we judge them by their shortcomings
and ourselves by our intentions.
How do we restore sweaty gym socks and wilting
roses to beautiful treasures? Through perseverance. The dictionary defines perseverance as, “steady
persistence in a course of action,” (dictionary.com). Perseverance produces
character, which leads to hope, (Romans 5:4). It also produces godliness, maturity, and a
sense completeness-that you would not lack anything, (2 Peter 1:6; James 1:4). When you got married, you entered into a
covenant-relationship. One of the main
differences between a covenant and a contract is that you’ve got the laws of
God in your court vs. only the laws of man.
If God is the one who is in your court, call upon Him to help you. He promises He will.
Father God, help us to see our spouses as
beautiful treasures. Help us to see past
mistakes and hurts. Help us to forgive
them and to cling to You so that we will be able to completely forgive each
other for shortcomings. Father, forgive
us for each time we have fallen short.
Help us to persevere to the end, to finish this race. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Therefore…let
us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and
let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ~ Hebrews 12:1
©
by Heather Potts
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