The Ideal Husband - Part 2

• What should be the degree of a husband's affection for his wife?
• Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Eph 5:33)
• So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. (Eph 5:28)

• In addition to bestowing his love upon his wife, what honour should the husband give to her?
• Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. (1Pe 3:7)

I find it interesting, that if I as a husband do not honour my wife ,and show her understanding, my prayers will be hindered by my attitude, and demeanour.

• What responsibility has the husband to his wife and to his household?
• Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. (1Co 7:3)
• But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1Ti 5:8)

• What blessings does God promise to a Godly husband?
• Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed Who fears the LORD. (Psa 128:3-4)
• Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel! (Psa 128:6)

Paul lays down the basis for happy wedded life in the words – “Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them”. Perhaps these instructions are not always well understood. Sometimes one of verses, and sometimes the other, is unduly emphasised.

Some men insist upon the first – “Wives, be in subjection to your husbands.” They interpret the words somewhat harshly, as if a wife were to be only as a servant to her husband, whose duty is to minister to his desires, to please him, to run at his every call and command. But it is not a Christian teaching.

In some older marriage services the words 'to love, honour and obey' as vows that are taken. It is to be particularly noted that Paul nowhere says – “Wives, obey your husbands.” In another place, where Paul gives another instruction, his words are – “Wives be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is head of the Church”. No doubt the husband is the head of the household; but what a responsibility this teaching puts upon him! His wife is to be in subjection to him, “as unto the Lord.” He is to be to her what Christ is to the Church.

If a man will insist on his wife fulfilling her part, he must also insist on honestly fulfilling his own part, – all the sacred duties which are his as a husband. What, then, is the husband’s share in this happy home making? “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it”. A husband is to love his wife. Is love despotic? Does love put its object in a servant’s place? No; love serves. It seeks not its own. It desires “not to be served, but to serve.” It does not demand attention, deference, service, subjection. It seeks rather to serve, to give, to honor.

Finally .................................. a thought for today

Looking for perfection in a man? Look to Jesus.

The Ideal Husband - Part 1

• What position does the husband occupy in the family?
• "For the husband is the head of the wife" (Eph 5:23)

• What beautiful illustration of head ship precludes any abuse of this prerogative?
• For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. (Eph 5:23)

• To whom will the godly husband be subject?
• But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. (1Co 11:3)

• How should husbands relate to their wives?
• Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. (Col 3:19)

J. R Miller wrote in "Week - Day Religion". Religion is love, and a religious home is one in which love reigns. There must be love in action, love that flows out of all the house intercourse, showing itself in a thousand little expressions of thoughtfulness, kindness and unselfishness, and gentle courtesy.

There can be very few more beautiful pictures of wedded love that were penned by the wife of Charles Kingsley as she closed her loving memoir with these words : “The outside world must judge him as an author, a preacher, a member of society, but those only who lived with him in the intimacy of every day life at home can tell what he was as a man. Over the real romance of his life and over the tenderest, loveliest passages in his private letters a veil must be thrown, but it will not be lifting it too far to say that if in the highest, closest of earthly relationships a love that never failed – pure, patient, passionate – for six and thirty years, a love which never stooped from its own lofty level to a hasty word, an impatient gesture or a selfish act, in sickness or in health, in sunshine or in storm, by day or by night, could prove that the age of chivalry has not passed away for ever, then Charles Kingsley fulfilled the ideal of a ‘most true and perfect knight’ to the one woman blest with that love in time and to eternity. To eternity, for such love is eternal, and he is not dead. He himself, the man, the lover, husband, father friend – he still lives in God, who is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” And why should not every marriage in Christ realize all that lies in this picture? It is possible, and yet only noble manhood and womanhood, with truest views of marriage and inspired by the holiest love, can realize it.

Surely true head ship is a picture of this type of love. The love that Christ has for his Church

Finally ..................... a thought for today

What matters to Jesus is what's on the inside.

In His Grip

Isa 49:15-16
"Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands".

Psalm 40:1
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit,out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock. He put a new song in my mouth.

I think that no matter how old we are we need to be in a safe pair of hands. The weaker you are the more support you need. I would imagine that if you were in a slimy pit full of mud, slowly going under you would cry out for help, hoping upon hope that someone strong enough will pass by that can get you out. I can see me stretching out my mud covered hands in desperation. Then the 'grip' that will never slip, never weaken, never let go is felt and we know instinctively that we will be saved from the pit.

Thank you Lord for your hands, pierced for my sins, thank you Lord that your hands reach out to us in love and compassion, to save us from the pit of hell, to a new life based on you as our sure foundation.

Still About, but Missing the Posts

Sorry for the delay in posting my thoughts. The two useful brain cells are currently being overloaded with work. The old body is being abused by attending two of my daughter’s graduations and preparing for one daughter’s wedding on the 25th of this month.

This Friday I am attending Amanda’s graduation at Queens University at Belfast in Northern Ireland. She has qualified with a Bachelors degree in Theology from Queens University. She intends to return to complete a Masters degree in September after she gets married and settles into married life.

A couple of weeks ago my wife Hazel and myself attended the graduation of Amanda’s twin sister Gillian. She graduated from Stirling University in Scotland with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and she also is returning there to do a Masters degree in Social Work.

The photo shows Gillian and Hazel my wife relaxing after the graduation. These are just two out of the four beautiful women in my family. Beautiful women not only in how they look, but beautiful in terms of their hearts, minds and souls. I am a blessed man and I praise the Lord for his favour on my life.

I still have not got my computer fixed which does cause me problems in posting to my blog. I am hopeful that tomorrow the HP technical person will have finally found out what they are going to do to fix the problem, once and for all time.

Finally……… a thought for to-day

How to Avoid Frustration
Keep your shoulder to the wheel
Your hand to the helm
Your eye on the ball!
Your nose to the grindstone
Your ear to the ground
And you will not have time to
Put your foot in your mouth.

IT Strikes Back

Well! It had to happen. I took all my toys on holiday and I broke a couple of them. Mini Computer, PDA, Smartphone and mobile. It used to be work related books, much to Hazel's annayance, but now I have progressed to IT toys.

My equipent load had a few unexpected problems for us. I had to say sorry to my daughter Jennifer who was carrying my hand luggage through airport security, and was stopped and searched due to the amount of wires in the bag. Over 90% of these wires were mine. I had all the power adaptors a human being could ever need in that bag.

Just after my last post while in Spain on holiday, the computer 'froze' and stopped working. Ever try to get technical support while in a foreign country? Not to be recommended for those who have a problem with patience. Cutting a long story short I had to wait until my return home from holiday to get this problem addressed, but I did correspond with some nice people in the USA and in India to see if I could solve the problem while in Spain.

The computer people told me that I should have the small computer operating next week! That is the promise, but I will wait and see.

After my computer failure I started to use my smartphone and updated some software while in Spain. Only to find out that I had to be in the UK to get it to work when the software was installed. Now no smartphone was available.

The PDA worked well. I use it primarily for E-Sword bible software which is wonderful. However, the screen is so small that it is only useful for 'short' messages. Add to this the fact that I could not get my hands on it due to my two daughters using it for 'Facebook', messaging updates etc, I was down to the mobile phone as a last means for communication to the outside world.

I thank the Lord that communication with Him is available 24/7. No need for hard discs, only soft hearts, no need for RAM, we only have to remember HIM, and we can enter his throne room.

With all our obsession with communication with the outside world, such as blogs, twitter and facebook etc. how easy it is for us to forget the ultimate communication medium available to us 'Prayer'. May we rely more on that perfect and fully reliable heavenly system than the man made communication devices that we use each day.

Finally ................ a thought for to-day

The 'windows' of heaven are always open to our prayers

On Holiday

I am sitting in Southern Spain as I write this. I am looking out over the Mediterranean sea, listening to the sounds of the children in the swimming pool mixed with the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. The photo has just been taken from my room, using the webcam on the computer.

Years ago I would have been thrilled to be here. It would have been magical, but now, I confess that I have become blasé about going on holiday. I rarely every think about the holiday before I get to the airport to catch the flight. I rarely count my annual holiday as a blessing!

I wonder how many other blessings in my life have I not counted lately?

I over heard a lady on the plane saying to her daughter that she could not wait to get into the swimming pool so that she could 'chillax'. That is a new 'combination' word that I had not come across before. Then I was reminded that at the end of the post I made a few weeks ago on the 'Daily Affirmation of Faith', there is a sentence at the end of it which says:-

I now receive God’s promised rest for this day (Heb. 4: 1-13). Therefore, I relax in the trust of faith, knowing that in the moment of temptation, trial, or need, the Lord Himself will be there as my strength and sufficiency (1 Cor. 10: 13).

So instead of continually dipping myself in a swimming pool for my relaxation, I intend (when possible) to quiet my mind and my heart before the Lord and use the holiday time to 'chillax' in thinking about the many blessings that He has given to me, which includes this holiday.

Finally a thought for to-day

Putting Christ first brings a blessing that lasts

A Close Encounter of a 'Bird' Kind

I love this time of year, smelling the cut grass, seeing trees come to life. I have to say that spring to early summer are my favourite seasons.

One morning last week. I was carrying our wee dog Pebbles out to the garden for a run around. (Being a near blind dog, it is wonderful to watch her once her paws hit the grass, her tail goes up and she trots around, nose in the air, off on her adventures).

Well! on this particular morning as I opened the back door of the house I disturbed the birds feeding on the grass. I then spotted a young collared dove heading straight for me on a 'kamikaze' flight path. My reactions kicked in immediately! I blinked!!!

Sometime during that blink and at the last possible moment the bird swerved round me, clipping my leg with her wing, flew threw the utility room and into the kitchen were my mother-in-laws dog 'Pippen' was waiting.

'Pippen' is a half sister of Pebbles, and like Pebbles is 12 years old. We have been looking after her for a couple of years now. When she arrived with us she was a mad and 'hyper' dog. Whereas Pebbles is slow and deliberate in her actions, Pippen is on the other end of the same scale, a 100mph racer.

So this unfortunate bird had flown straight into where Pippen was running around. I heard a bit of a flurry in the kitchen and was expecting to go and see Pippen standing, 'retriever' like with said bird in her mouth. But what greeted me was the bird sitting on the kitchen floor with Pippen's eyes glued to the bird's eyes, nose to nose or in this case nose to beak. No barking, no attack, no aggression, just calm, interested attention. I am convinced that even if I had not been there that the bird would have been left unharmed.

So after putting Pebbles down on the floor, I was able to pick up the young dove, who by this time was minus quite a few feathers that were strewn around the kitchen floor and take the bird outside where she flew off into the nearby trees.

I got a lesson from this encounter. Pippen reacted differently than I expected. Her bark was worse than her bite and I am convinced that she is a real softy at heart. I was sure the young dove was going to be in trouble but I was proved wrong.

I reflected that over the past couple of years Pippen has mellowed and become more like Pebbles and I do not believe that this mellowing is due to her age, she still can move at 100mph. I think it is down to the influence of Pebbles, the 'Mother Theresa of the dog world.

Makes you think that the more time we spend being close with our Lord and Saviour under His influence and His work on our hearts, we become more 'Christ like' in our natures and in our outlook. Putting into our lives His attributes, His love.

Joh 17:21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Finally .......... a thought for to-day

Being Christlike is always in season