A few years ago my husband and I were members of a little country church. In this church was a sweet couple who obviously loved each other very much and who worked very hard in that church.
The sweet woman in this couple shared with me that she as struggling in her job and very badly wanted to be able to stay at home with their child.
My husband and I were already very concerned for this couple.
You see, they weren't married.
Why does that matter?
Because I knew God deeply loved this couple and that he had brought them together. I knew that both of them had come to the understanding that they needed Jesus and his death and resurrection for salvation.
I knew that God wanted to give them great blessing, but that sin had put up a huge road block to those blessings.
Was I better as a married woman? Nope.
Have I put up huge road blocks to blessings in my life because of sin? Yep.
My husband and I knew from past experience that we had created road blocks to blessings in our lives by allowing sin in our home.
God cannot bless sin.
He is gentle to us in our sin.
Psalm 103:8-10New International Version (NIV)
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
But:
In Hebrews 12 we are told:
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
But:
In Hebrews 12 we are told:
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
He wasn't waiting with His hammer of justice to smash this beautiful family. He was gently slowly working to bring truth to them.
He had done it for me with my uncontrollable temper, dvd burning thievery, pride, etc...
My husband and I prayed for a long time for the opportunity to help them. Finally my husband had a chance to lead the father in a one on one bible study. After several weeks and building fellowship with them, he asked to speak with them both privately.
He basically told them that we deeply loved them and wanted to help them to achieve the godly goals they had for their family. He discussed all I wrote about above.
The mother said she would have been very angry if it had come from anyone else but she understood he was doing this out of love. They both agreed to think about it.
Not to long after they separated for a short time and were married.
Not to long after that he was given a job opportunity that allowed her to be a stay at home mother as she had wished.
Not a coincidence.
Any couple who are Christians (people who accept that Jesus died to make them whole and has the right and ability to guide their lives) and who live together/have intimate relations outside of marriage are short changing themselves in a big way.
Maybe for you things are "perfect", but I submit that your perfect is only the tip of a huge blessing iceberg that obedience will unlock for you. Good enough should not be good enough, life is too short for that.
You only have to read John 4 (Samaritan woman at the well) or John 8 (adulterous woman) to realize it is never about condemnation with Jesus. NEVER
He even offered a Pharisee (religious leaders whom he was pretty harsh with) the truth about how to be free in Him in(John 3) as he did with the adulterous woman (whom he was tender and gentle with).
It's never about some people being better than others, because that's not possible.
It's about how much Jesus gets of you.
The more He gets of you the better off you are. The more areas of your life that you lay on the table and say "Okay God where do you lead on this?" or "Okay God I acknowledge that you deserve to lead in this" the more amazing life becomes.
Easy, no.
Blessed, joyful, victorious, (and this list goes on in an eternal way), Yes!!!
