1 Peter 3:1-6

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." 

Proverbs 14:1 (NIV)

A wife has tremendous power! Solomon is not speaking here of a woman carpenter. No; he is describing two different types of wives and the power they have on the families are a part of. The wife builds or destroys the family. We immediately raise objection to this and insist that the man take the primary responsibility for all issues in a family. Okay, that is correct. The Bible actually teaches that the man has the primary responsibility. It is easy to see that in the story of Adam and Eve, Eve was deceived but Adam was held responsible, but what is also correct is the tremendous amount of power that the woman of the house has in her hands. How she acts, how she speaks, the attitude that she has, either builds her family or destroys it. Consider Sarah; we think of Abram's faith and Sarah's laughter. The Holy Spirit tells us in Hebrews 11:11 that it was her faith that brought about the birth of Isaac. The Holy Spirit also tells us in Genesis 21 that God acted towards Sarah and kept His promise to Sarah. Consider Hagar; the abandoned single mother who through faith, (she called out to God and He answered her) saved her son and raised him to be a great leader. May Parkdale be filled with wise women! 

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Proverbs 5

"You ask, "Why?" It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant." 

Malachi 2:14 (NIV) 

The Lord brings the woman to the man. Our culture celebrates the false god, Cupid, but the One True God clearly claims responsibility for match making. For the reason He is the One who blesses the man with his wife, He is the also the One who is personally offended when a husband no longer desires the wife of his youth. This is not his young wife, but the wife he married when he was young. Years have passed; age has done its work and desire no longer stirs for this woman who is a direct gift from the One True God to the husband. 

We make a big mistake as husbands if we think that we can still be in a right relationship with God, even though we no longer love our wife the way we are supposed to. Malachi (2) and Peter (1 Pe. 3) both tell husbands that if we do not treat our wife as a special gift from God to us, God will not answer our prayers or help us in our lives. David made this mistake and Nathan told him that he had treated the Lord with contempt (2 Sam. 12). 

How many Christian husbands treat their wives with contempt - falsely believing in their own righteousness before God? Oh friend, may God answer the prayer of Proverbs 5 in our lives. May Parkdale be filled with husbands who thank God each day for His precious gift of them of their dear wife. 

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Genesis 2

"Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man." 

Genesis 2:22 (NIV)

Before there was a government, there was marriage. In our world of tax laws and regulations, we cannot imagine a marriage without government, but marriage in its purest form is God bringing a woman to a man, and a man acknowledging his responsibility for the woman.

Our Lord taught us this when He said, "What God has brought together..." (Mark 10:9). Let us not go wild here and imagine that Adam and Eve were living together in sin, for there is no clear acknowledgment of God's authority in their relationship. Adam told Eve that she is now him, for his attitude was that she is part of his body.

Paul picks up on this truth in Ephesians 6 where he teaches husbands to love their wives as their own bodies. In this world of upside down and everything goes, it is so refreshing to look back on God's design and marvel at His creative genius in making humans both male and female and instituting marriage with sex as the basic building blocks of society.

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus - or so the book title goes. Yet men are from God and women are from God; completely different, yet equal in Christ. His plan is that those He puts into relationships live together as one. Oh friend, are you in the place that Adam and Eve were in? Are you in a marriage relationship, a relationship put together by God? Thank Him for His goodness and be the husband or wife that God wants you to be. 

 "My Only Love", Matt Maher (cover), via YouTube

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Ephesians 5

"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity." 

Colossians 5:4 (NIV) 

Wisdom is knowledge applied. It is the application of knowledge to specific situations in time and place. In our life as a child of God, it is where the rubber meets the road. Our Lord told us that living wisely is applying His Word in our lives (Matt 7:24). This application of our Lord's teaching, covers every area of our lives, from personal private time, to family time, to church time, to work time, and to the time that we spend with people who are not part of the kingdom of light. 

We know that we have a glorious inheritance, that we have the Spirit of Christ within us, the hope of glory. We know that these outsiders are in darkness without hope. How then should we apply this knowledge in our dealings with them? What does being wise look like? First of all it means that we should realize that opportunities are few. If we have a God-given opportunity to share the gospel, DO IT - for they need the Lord! 

Second, to that first priority is "Bless them - do not curse them" (Rom. 12:14). These people are already cursed, their destination is hell. Why should we curse them here in this life? Our Lord did not act that way; He was friendly with sinners. He liked them; He ate and drank with them, many of them never enter the kingdom of God. May our light shine in the darkness! 

"Go Light Your World", Kathy Troccoli, via YouTube

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Ephesians 6

"Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart; then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt." 

Proverbs 27:11 (NIV) 

When enemies mock and scorn us and treat us with contempt, nothing brings comfort to us like an adult child who is living wisely. Whether we we respond audibly to those foes, inside we think: "Well I can't be a complete failure - look at my daughter or look at my son. Look how they have turned out; they are good people who are doing well." A wise son or daughter brings joy to a parent, and brings an answer to contemptuous enemies - they bring glory. 

Our Heavenly Father has enemies, contemptuous enemies who scorn and mock His grace. They are all around us, laughing and mocking God and His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Do we, by our actions, bring joy to the heart of God? Could God answer His enemies by pointing at us and saying, "Look at what my grace has done in the life of this child. Look at how they live their lives in wisdom and righteousness. Look how they build their lives on the words of my Son. They used to reflect Satan and now they reflect my Son." 

One of the many blessings that our Heavenly Father has given to us is JOY. May we as His loving children, give Him back the gift of JOY by living as wise children. 

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Colossians 1:1-14

"...Thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves."

Colossians 1:12b, 13 (NIV)

There is a place where we will fellowship at a banquet table with a Holy God, His Son who is our Lord and all of His holy people together. It will be a place of peace, of righteousness, of health, of life and of love! We long to see it here now, right where we live, and the truth of the gospel is that we can have this wonderful fellowship right now, right here in a spiritual sense. We have been given every spiritual blessing in Christ, and yet we are still physically here on this earth surrounded by the kingdom of darkness. A place of war and murder, of deceit and malice, of jealousy and grasping, and a place of illness and death. This kingdom is run by the father of lies, a murderer from the beginning. He rules his kingdom through deceit as he whispers lies to the subjects of this dark place. Oh friend,  how the Father has blessed us by rescuing us from this kingdom and making us a part of His kingdom of light. May we live as children of the light this day.

"Road to Zion", Petra, via YouTube

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Isaiah 22:1-14

"You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago."

Isaiah 22:11 (NIV) 

This chapter of Isaiah describes a time of great trouble, a time of distress and threat. The LORD watches His people prepare for battle; they make plans, they store water, they replace their weapons, they get themselves ready, all of which is good and commendable, except that they didn’t look to their God, the ONE who planned this path for them. 

Many years ago, as I drove down a road towards a meeting where I would be signing an agreement, that would change my life and my family’s life for years, the Lord brought to my mind this question: “Have you asked me what I thought you should do?”. I had worked hard at this agreement, talked with wise friends and talked it through with my wise wife - I had done my research and yet I had not once asked the ONE who made it all and who made me, what He wanted me to do! I stopped my truck and repented right there, and asked Him to lead me. 

Friend, let us not make this mistake in our lives today. Let us look to the ONE and let us have regard for the ONE who planned what we are walking into long ago! What is it that we need to ask Him for guidance today?

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