Faithful relationship

I heard a story about a wife who was ready to give up and divorce her husband.  She went to see a divorce lawyer to start the process.  As the lady started sharing, she said, “I want him to hurt like I have hurt.”  This lawyer wisely asked a few questions before beginning the process.  One of which was, “Why do you want a divorce?”  Her reply was that her husband had stopped paying her the attention he once did.  He stopped bringing flowers at unexpected times.  He stopped making sure he gave her a kiss before leaving for work.  He seemed to begin to take her for granted.  And on and on went the reasons.  

The lawyer then asked, “What did you do when these things happened?  “Well”, she replied, “as he stopped doing those things for me, the more I stopped doing things for him.  I thought I would get his attention when I simply dumped his laundered clothes unfolded on the bed instead of folding and putting them away for him.  Dinner wasn’t always ready when he walked in the door.  In fact, I decided sometimes to just wait until he got home to start.”  And on and on went her transactional reactions to those of her husband.  The lawyer had sensed there was a deep-seated love this lady had for her husband, but it had been buried under all these feelings of neglect.  He asked her if she really wanted to make him feel hurt like she hurt. “Yes, absolutely.”  

He then shared with her that he would begin preparing the documents and it would take about a month.  And during this month he suggested that she go home and shower her husband with all the things that would make him hurt when she served the papers.  She should serve him, prepare the meals on time and make them over the top, and return to doing the things she had once done.  Then on the day she served him the papers, all those things would end and he would hurt like she had been hurting.  

So she went home and did just that.  At first, it felt odd, but the more she served him and loved him, her husband began to respond in kind.  The days of the month came and went.  The lawyer called to tell her the papers were ready and she could come and pick them up.  She was caught off guard because their marriage had changed so much that she had forgotten about the lawyer and his work.  She replied that the papers could be shredded as once she and her husband began once again serving the needs of the other, many times without being asked, their relationship flourished.

God is doing all for our good (and His glory) even when we cannot see it (see Romans 8:18-38).  May we seek the Lord and serve the Lord in all that we do.  The relationship God desires for us is seen in the picture of marriage found in Ephesians 5:22-33.  Even when we are unfaithful, God is faithful.  

Pressing on…

Ron Tipton, Senior Pastor