🤎🫘🌄A preacher came back home and met his wife absent. Then word reached him, that his wife was committing adultery with one of his male neighbours who lived downstairs.
🤎🫘🌄INSTEAD OF FIGHTING HE PRAYED
Instead of being full of rage and fury, and spoiling for a fight, as most most men would do in the face of such a high provocation, this servant of God gently went and stood at the door of the gentleman concerned and began praying out loud in tongues. As he was praying, his wife came out of the neighbour’s apartment, walked past him and went upstairs to their apartment.
Another time the same thing happened. Her husband, the man of God, still went and stood at the door of that man praying out loud in tongues. The whole scenario repeated itself several times.
🤎🫘🌄WHEN A MAN SEEMS COWARDLY BUT IS NOT
He probably looked like a coward, a weakling and spineless fellow in the eyes of his neighbours. But he preferred to spend the time praying for his wife to be saved by God than spending it in fighting the man that was sinning with her. After all, the man didn’t abduct her. She always went down to him with her own two legs.
After some time, a heavy cloud of guiltiness enveloped his wife. She came under a strong and overwhelming convictions for her sins. She repented of her evil ways, received Jesus Christ into her life for the very first time and became a new creature in Christ.
🤎🫘🌄OUTFLOW OF A NEW LIFE
Gradually, she began accompanying her husband to crusades. It was in one of those programmes that one of my siblings heard her share her testimony of how her husband was used by God to lead her to repentance and faith in Christ through his uncommon, peculiar and Christlike love for her.
🤎🫘🌄SPOUSES CALLED TO BE CHRISTLIKE
Dearly beloved, just as the Pastor in the true life story above put up with the shame, embarrassment, and reproach of his wife’s brazen and repeated acts of adultery and endured them all rather than fighting the man that was sleeping with her or divorcing her, so are all spouses also called to make sacrifices to see to the betterment of the life of their marriage partner.
🤎🫘🌄PUT YOUR STRENGTH AT THE DISPOSAL OF YOUR MATE
In Romans chapter 15:1 the Bible commands us:
“We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves”.(Romans 15:2).
By this verse, God calls you to put your strengths at the disposal of your spouse in the moment of their weakness, fainting and feebleness -and in marriage, there’ll be several of such times.
In Galatians 6 God commands:
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”(Galatians 6:1). Applying this verse to marriage, the duty of spouses when their mate blunders or falls into transgression isn’t to be wrathful or mad at them, as the case is so many times, as a result of ignorance and lack of love.
When your spouse blunders, you are to seek their recovery and restoration to the path of righteousness. And you are to do this in humility and soberness, so as to avoid showing any ugly attitude of arrogance or pride that might displease the Lord.
When we look at the Pastor with whose wife’s story we began today’s devotional, you’ll agree that he fulfilled these scriptures. He was indeed a true christian gentleman and a loving husband.
🤎🫘🌄CONCLUSION
Finally, always remember that in marriage, you’re stationed by God in the life of your mate as the Samaritan with the horse, the oil and the wine. Whenever your mate stumbles, remember that, that’s why you are there: to rise to the occasion and open your bag that contains the oil, the bandage and the wine; and to treat your mate.
You are there: not to condemn, insult, ridicule and hurt your mate, further compounding their situation but to heal.
The Samaritan in the story of Christ never said a word to hurt the wounded man.
And Christ in His dealings with the woman who was caught in the act of adultery never gave her a dressing down, a hot reprimand or thorough rebuke to show her how disgraceful and shameful her conduct of committing adultery was. He didn’t because He knew the woman already knew all that. Instead, He graciously said:
“Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”(John 8:11b).
That’s how spouses ought to respond to their mate’s mistakes, goofs and transgressions. Lift your partner up. Be their saviour. Act as an agent of rescue!
🤎🫘🌄HALLELUJAH!