re marriage

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Greetings:

Tim seemed to be advocating letting the wife leave and the children too if they
saw things differently, right? Or did I misinterpret your remarks?  Sorry Tim, I
disagree. Approximately a year ago I almost died from heart failure. One thing
stood out clearly to me as a result of that incident: the only thing we will be
able to bring to God when we die will be the relationships we have developed
with Him and with each other. (Read Matthew 25: 31 to the end of the chapter.
Ponder especially verses 35-40 and 42-45. Relationships are fragile things and
easily broken.  It's so easy to break relationships and build walls that will
last forever. Perhaps as mature saints we ought to consider leading "those
gently that are with young" instead of confrontation. It would be so tragic if
we won the argument and lost the soul.

I remember only too well when my own son, of his own accord, left our home to
enter the world of drugs, alcoholism, and false cults. I admit the temptation
was there to throw him out but the Lord spoke to us to build bridges, not
barriers. If it had not been for the love we showed him when he was in "the pig
pen" he never would have come back to God. Yes, praise the Lord, he did come
back to God and now he is doing just fine! What frightens me now when looking
back on it  is that during the time he was away from God, even though we were
right in our theology,  we came so close to being wrong in our attitudes and
behaviour and thus we would have destroyed the very thing we were trying to
build.

Ladies and gentlemen: there is a scripture it would do well for all to consider
in our dealings with others. It is 1 Corinthians 13: 12 "For now we see through
a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I
know even as also I am known." While we are in the flesh, our spiritual vision
is not clear and we only know in part. Personally I like the rest of the verse.
One of these days our vision will be clear and we will know fully. It is at that
point we will not need to argue or spat with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Until that time comes when we are in the presence of the Lord, we would be very
wise to walk softly in humility. If we argue and we are right in our facts but
our spirits are haughty, then we are dead wrong.

Pastor JD Ward