The following was a devotional I gave last weekend at a bridal shower. I have changed a few things to protect the identity of the bride-to-be: she was not engaged to anyone in my family. I removed the personal references, and put it here as a reminder to us all.
A Quiet and Gentle Spirit
It is always a pleasure to watch as a young lady comes under the influence of the Lord who made and claimed her. I find myself praising God for the quiet and gentle spirit He who began a good work in us is being faithful to complete. That, of course, reminded me of the first few verses of 1 Peter Chapter 3.
1 Peter 3:1-4
1Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.
Every family needs a leader, and our husbands need to be the leaders of our families. When Peter tells us here that a wife should be subject to her own husband, he is not talking about inferiority, but about a characteristic of ready compliance with the husband's reasonable decisions. Not that all of a husband's decisions will be reasonable, but here Peter tells us that when they are not, we are not to argue. Instead, let our husbands see for themselves by the purity of our conduct, and be won over to the truth. What a blessing it is for us as wives to have God lay out for us the proper response to our husbands!
The problem is, of course, that submitting to our husbands implies a certain death to ourselves. And death is always painful. Just remember that as you submit to your husband, he is going to be dying to himself in his own way as he is called to live with you in understanding and accord you respect, as Peter tells him later in this same passage.
Verse 4 again says, “let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”
A Christian wife, then, as we are called to be, seeks to both please God and be a witness to God by a distinctive cultivation of that type of an inner spirit that is calm and imperturbable in relation to people and circumstances. This shows that our behavior is governed by a new set of values, different from those that may come naturally to us. It shows our choice to cultivate those characteristics that are highly valued by God: the inner dispositions of the heart.
The outward things, after all, are passing away. But those inward things—that gentle and quiet spirit-- are growing by God‘s grace day by day. The “gentleness” here means the way in which a wife can choose to respond to her husband’s demands and intrusions in her life in a docile, compliant way. And “quiet” here refers to the character of her action or reaction towards her husband and the world. She should be complementary to her husband (with and “e” not an “i”, meaning to complete, not to flatter!), and constant in her love for him, without rebellion, or fuss, or the fury for which women are so generally well known.
Peter goes on to tell us that this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves, and how they brought honor to both God and their husbands. So, when you marry, you are embarking on not only a great adventure, but a great legacy. You have the opportunity to stand with the great and holy women of the past, and choose to adorn yourself with that quiet and gentle spirit that will be a great witness to your God and a great blessing to your husband and future family. May God give you the grace and power of His Spirit to be such
a blessing!
No comments:
Post a Comment