some good stuff tonight

Evening

FACE TO FAITH:

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NASB

[4] Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, [5] does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

I have good news and bad news. 

The good news is that you are the best thing that could possibly happen to your marriage. The bad news is that you could also be the worst thing that could possibly happen to your marriage. 

How can both of these be true? Well, it comes down to whether you will die to yourself for the sake of your spouse, or whether you will be selfish, insisting on taking care of yourself first. 

Hands down, selfishness is the number one problem in marriage, the biggest reason for divorce. Selfish expectations, wanting things the way you want them, are marriage killers. 

God designed us so that the blessings come when we die to ourselves, and this is espe- cially true in our marriages. Yet for some reason, it’s easier to be unselfish with our children, friends, or even sometimes with strangers than with the one person who is our first responsi- bility. Somehow it suddenly becomes about the way we want things, expect things, or about what we need and want. 

Selfishness is a black hole whose desires are never fulfilled. Selfishness is never happy, never satisfied, and never whole. It never stops making demands. The result of this is that, at best, one unselfish spouse works their tail off to satisfy their partner, but it’s impossible and they become increasingly frustrated as their efforts to love are met with ingratitude and an even longer list of entitlement-minded demands. At worst, two selfish people make continual demands of each other and become repeatedly offended with one another as these demands regularly go unmet. 

Finally, the selfish person’s desires cannot be met and they decide to look for someone else to meet their “needs.” Since marriage was about them to begin with, of course, this is no great sacrifice to walk all over their spouse’s and children’s hearts, needs, or lives. 

Love, on the other hand, does not seek its own. It seeks to benefit others. And when we actually embrace love in a marriage then not only are all our needs met, but trust and true intimacy are built over time that makes our marriage and our family a rock-solid pillar of love in our communities. 

Doing family right is the ultimate witness for Christ, and it starts when we reject selfish- ness and choose love. 

Prayer 

Father God, 

Thank You for not being selfish with me! Please help me to be loving and unselfish like You are so that my family will not only survive, but so that it will become even better than I have ever imagined that it could be! 

Amen

WORDLIVE: YEAR ONE:

Joshua 5:13-15 NASB

[13] Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" [14] He said, "No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?" [15] The captain of the LORD'S host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

Prepare: Can you recall moments when you have felt a particular closeness and intimacy with God; times when he has made his presence known in a particularly significant way? Reflect on what those times have meant to you. 

Holy encounter 

This seems like a strange interlude in the story. It reminds us of other moments of holy encounter – face-to-face meetings with the Lord or his messenger – in the Old Testament: Abraham at the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18), Jacob at the Jabbok (Genesis 32) and Isaiah in the Temple (Isaiah 6). 

What is the purpose of such encounters? They are moments when God establishes beyond any doubt who is in control. He sets the agenda. 

Let God be God 

That is so here too as Joshua meets the commander of the army of the Lord (v 14). His question (v 13) is entirely reasonable: whose side are you on? But the reply he gets must have stunned Joshua: ‘neither’. He is on God’s side, and God’s alone. 

Joshua doesn’t get much of an answer to his second question either (v 14): no instruction for the next stage of the campaign, only a simple command to take off his shoes as he’s already fallen face down on the ground. This is a simple but profound call to holiness and commitment, and to let God be God, and to give him the first place that is his due. 

Respond: We mustn’t try to recruit God to our causes, but dedicate ourselves to his. Take time now to commit yourself afresh to the cause of his kingdom. 

http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-02-08