Today we continue our thoughts of likening our marriages to the cedars of Lebanon.
CEDARS ARE DURABLE AND LASTING
Cedars have remarkable lasting qualities and are noted for their durability. In fact, there are some cedar trees that are estimated to be two thousand years old! This is how God sees marriage--durable and lasting. When we make the covenant of marriage before God and witnesses, we are in for the long haul! It is “forsaking all others.” It is “until death do us part.”
We live in an unprecedented hour in history when divorce is as rampart in the church as it is in the world. How God’s heart must grieve as the beautiful institution of marriage, which He ordained, is attacked and torn apart by the devil. This is not the vision of “lovely homes” which God designed.
How can our marriages last? Only by doing it God’s way. Our selfish flesh continually puts a spanner in the works! “Self” and “selfishness” are the root of all problems in marriage. We need to lay down our own rights and embrace the same attitude of Jesus who did not cling to His rights as God. Instead, He made himself of no reputation, He became a servant, and He humbled Himself and was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:6-8). The outworking of this truth in our lives is sufficient to keep a marriage to the end.
Too many people think that love is a feeling. When the feeling dies, they think love has finished. Love is a commitment. It goes beyond feeling. It goes beyond circumstances. Even when we have no vestige of love left within us, God’s inexhaustible love is still available to us. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes the kind of love we need to survive marriage. It is agape love, which starts with: “Love endures long” and ends with “love endures without limit.”
King Solomon used cedar timber to build God’s temple, and his own palace, because of the durability of the wood. God wants our marriages to be built of cedar too, not poplar or untreated pine that will not stand the tests of time.
May you have a marriage like the cedar tree.
More tomorrow.
Be blessed, Nancy Campbell
Picture: Unspoken Love by Sam Sidders
Enjoy looking at pictures of older couples who are still in love at: https://www.pinterest.com/aboverubiesmag/i-love-older-couples-who-are-still-in-love/
The public needs to know what the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is promoting:
Here, in my humble kitchen,
In Numbers 24:5-7 we read a beautiful description of the homes of the Israelites. One of the descriptions is that they will be “like cedar trees beside the waters” In the Bible cedar trees speak of majesty, beauty, and faithfulness. They are called “excellent” trees in Song of Solomon 5:15. I believe we can liken our marriage relationship to the cedar. Let’s look at some of the qualities of the cedar:
It's important to be reminded of who we are, isn't it? God gives us an amazing description of how He sees us in 1 Peter 2:9. This Scripture is written to all those who believe in Jesus Christ, collectively and personally: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
We want this for ourselves. We want it for each one of our children.
God tells us many things about His kingdom in His Word. One of the characteristics of God’s kingdom is that it embraces children. If you don’t like to be around children, you may have to question whether you are really in the kingdom.
Is the light in your soul dim? Or perhaps nearly out? What about your home? Does the light of Jesus burn brightly in your home, or is it fading?
We may not like to acknowledge the truth that our body does not belong to us. We are not free to do what we like. Well, we can if we want, but only to our detriment. God is the creator of our body. He created it perfectly. Gloriously. Wondrously, Amazingly. Honorably. Powerfully. And He wants us to use our bodies the way He created them to function.
Did you read the testimony by Pitana and Nadia Mutana on page 27 of the current Above Rubies, #94? They wrote about the power of naming their children.
What is pouring out of your mouth today, dear wife and mother? We build our marriages and homes with our words. It is one of our most powerful building tools. Many marriages have fallen apart and are broken today because of negative words.
Although I am an American citizen, I am still a British subject, belonging to the Commonwealth. Therefore, I hope you don’t mind my posting a picture of our lovely queen. She will be 92 years on 21 April.
The disciples of Jesus came to Him and asked him why he spoke in parables. Jesus answered: “Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matthew 13:11). The wonderful news of God’s great salvation is called “the mystery of the gospel.” The truths of God’s kingdom are called “the mysteries of the kingdom.”
What is the most important thing you want to teach your children? I know you have great aspirations for your children. You want them to be successful, that’s for sure. And therefore, you spend much time on their education and taking them to all the different extra-curricular activities.
Do you embrace your womb as a gift from God? Part of who you are as a woman? A sacred place? Or do you see it as something that does not fit in with your lifestyle? An organ that you would rather not function?
God has given us so many treasures in family life. We must protect them and watch that we don’t give them away.
If we truly know God is holy, we will walk in the fear of God. We will fear to displease Him and sin against Him. It surprises me when people who say they are Christians commit sinful and lustful deeds, often without conscience. They watch movies with fornication and adultery and think nothing of it. I know several couples who confess Christ as their Savior and yet live together without being married. Is their conscience hardened, or do they not understand what sin is?
What would life have been like, I wondered