I don’t believe Christian couples should be like hedgehogs to one another. I mentioned this when speaking at the Above Rubies Family Retreat in Florida recently. A woman approached me and said that she and her husband were Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog and could they both receive counsel about the matter.
Some Americans may not understand what I am getting at when I talk about hedgehogs as they are rare to USA. They are cute, nocturnal, little animals found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and in our land of origin, New Zealand. Although they may look innocent enough, you need to be very careful around them because they are covered with spines that are very sharp indeed. When defending itself, a hedgehog rolls up in a ball, exposing its 5,000 to 7,000 sharp spines! And they can do it so quickly, within a second!
You may be tempted to pick it up or even kick it out of the way, but you had better make sure your hands and feet are protected. Growing up as a boy in New Zealand I was sometimes tempted to give hedgehogs a hard time because boys are naturally challenged by defiance.
Prickly people are difficult to be around and hard to live with. If you happen to say the wrong word, even sometimes by accident, they will quickly roll up into a ball of defiance and challenge you with their sharp words.
Who would want to be married to a hedgehog? Not me. Who would want to live in a family of hedgehogs?
All true Christians are blessed to have a new nature, the life of Jesus Christ living inside of them. Sad to say, many still allow the old prickly nature, inspired by the old serpent, the devil, to usurp itself. The new nature that we have through Christ has absolute authority to resist, deny, and crucify the old prickly nature from rising up and hurting the ones to whom we should be loving and gracious.
This “hedgehog nature” is destructive. It is probably one of the main reasons why so many marriages are destroyed, and families break up. No one should feel they have to walk around their spouse on eggshells! Just one wrong word and it’s another world war! May God have mercy on us. This is insane.
Is their new nature locked up in a closet somewhere?
Most Christians would say, “I would never deny Christ, not even if I was placed before a firing squad.” And yet, in everyday life, they lock Him up and hold Him back from manifesting His life to those around them. What hypocrisy.
Colossians 1:27 speaks of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” It is high time for us to shut down the prickly, grouchy, old nature and release the glory of the new nature, which is Christ in you! What miracles it will bring about in your marriage and family life.
Matthew 10:33 says: “Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”
When we deny Jesus Christ the right to reign in our lives and reveal His nature to those closest to us, our spouse and family members, we deny Him. When we deny His right to speak kindly and lovingly through us, we deny Him before our family members.
Do not feed the hedgehog spirit in your life anymore. Do not make it your pet. It will destroy you and everyone around you.
Be encouraged.
COLIN CAMPBELL