ODJ: spouse for sale
How distinguished the king of Israel looked today (v.20).
READ: 2 Samuel 6:16-22
Recently, I read an article about a 38-year-old guy who offered his wife for sale. I wondered, what would drive a man to sell his spouse to the highest bidder? Then, I read his advertisement: “Nagging wife. No tax, very high maintenance—some rust.”
That’s when it clicked; it must have been the nagging. No marriage is perfect, but our communication patterns have a lot to do with the level of harmony in our homes. While some of us nag, other sinful speech habits include lying, harshness, or even sarcasm.
David’s wife, Michal, had a thing for sarcasm. When Michal saw David dancing before the Lord as the Ark was being brought back to Jersualem, “she was filled with contempt for him” (2 Samuel 16:16). She sneered, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today” (v.20), when she really meant, You looked like a total goofball! Sarcasm hurts the ones we love twice—once with the original insult, and again with the sting of our delivery.
If Michal’s cutting communication wasn’t enough, this drama queen accused David of dancing to impress the servant girls. Her venomous lie proved that “harsh words make tempers flare” (Proverbs 15:1), and it caused David to retort, “I was dancing before the Lord. . . . Those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!” (2 Samuel 6:21-22). Like David, our spouses will move into defense mode and possibly even seek affirmation elsewhere if we continually fling false accusations their way.
Our words have the power to hearten our partners or discourage them. May everything we say “be good and helpful, so that [our] words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (Ephesians 4:29).
—Jennifer Benson Schuldt
How should we respond to people who hurt us with their sinful patterns of speech? How can you become more aware of your own tendencies to wound with your words?
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Loading ...When I Fall In Love
By Poh Fang Chia
I love romantic comedies and the warm fuzzy feelings it gives. But after watching and reading copious amount of novels and movies, perhaps like me, you are wondering: What is the biblical idea of love? What does it mean when a couple falls in love? And falls out of love?
Check out the following links:
1. What does it mean when a couple falls in love?
2. What does it mean when a couple falls out of love?
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODB: rich toward God
February 10, 2010
READ: Luke 12:13-21
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. —Luke 12:34
I watch the fluctuations of the stock market and reflect on the effects of fear and greed. A character in a 1980s movie had this philosophy: “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right! Greed works! . . . Greed [will] save . . . the USA!” What foolish thinking!
I think of that occasion when a man asked Jesus to serve as an arbiter and make his brother share their inheritance. Jesus refused the request but went on to do the man a greater kindness. He pointed out the motive behind the man’s request and its consequences: “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15).
Then Jesus told a parable about a man who harvested a bumper crop and began to make plans to increase and enjoy his riches. He concluded: “God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (vv.20-21).
The trouble with greed is that ultimately our goods go. But worse—we go. Better to store up treasure in heaven, invest in spiritual riches, and become “rich toward God.” — David H. Roper
Our real wealth is what we invest for eternity.
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