Am I the only one who finds this post full of over simplified generalizations...
frought with stereo-typical examples
and overall disrepect/doom and gloom over the existance for both a man and womans ability to have a loving healthy marriage in Gods eye....
one example...in my ever so humble opinion....
As I heard in this study...you know, before Jesus met you, He was doing fine. Before He came down to Earth, He was living large. He never knew pain, He never knew betrayal. Until He met me, He was living the perfect life.
I think God knew pain the moment evil Eve gave Adam the apple....
I think HE found joy while on earth....
and pain,
like all of us....
is it really just me??
ARK^^
Hay Ark...
You made my point exactly. Ever since Jesus met man, ever since Eve and Adam did what they did, Jesus has known pain. Before that, the eternity before that, there was no such thing as pain.
Of course God experienced pain with us from the beginning, and He knew He would when He spun this whole thing into creation. He knew that if you are going to have love, as well as free will...then there is going to be pain. unavoidable. it is two sides of the coin.
The point to the admitted generalization is that Jesus had a choice a long, long time ago. He might not have created us, and saved Himself pain. He might not have come down and died for us, and saved us a lot of pain. He could have just let us have what we deserve, instead of Hm taking our consequences.
And, we as men must love our wives like Jesus has loved us. And that means not giving them what they necessarily deserve. Sure, we might not have had the pain that has come, and is most certainly to come. But remember, pain is one side of the coin. There was a country song a few years ago that spoke to this, that if I had not met you, even though it ended, then I would have missed the dance.
So again, in order to love like Jesus, we have to love in spite of the pain, betrayal. We have to die to ourselves and die for our wives. Anything less, is not loving our wives like Jesus loves us. And if we are not doing that...then we are in direct violation of a God0given command. And we should not expect a marriage and blessings as we had hoped.
In His arms.