10 December 2015 + Love Dare Day 11

Prayer
      5. Worship God

Scriptures:

• John 4:23-24

Observations:

What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? 

Well, in my last note, I talked about spiritual worship as aligning myself with God and sacrificing myself to his will and purpose.

Worshipping in truth, I am convinced and convicted, is about coming to God in honesty. What that means to me, and what I was convicted of, is that if we are coming to God and we have matters of sin, conflict, hurt that are lingering over us, then we need to confess those and take care of those matters first, before continuing in worship. Christ himself said something similar in Matt 5:

"23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." Matt 5:23-24

Application:

Well, I kinda already did this. I had something weighing on my heart from a discussion with my wife earlier, knowing it was something that needed being said, so I finally mustered up the courage to at least send her a message, which ended up being a long message on where I am and what's troubling me with regards to where I am in my process of recovery from sin.

~ ~ ~

The Love Dare

Day 11: Love Cherishes

The authors open up with a comparison of two men: one with a severely broken, old car and the other with a severely broken hand, asking which man's attitude towards fixing vs scrapping should we embody in our relationships with our spouses.

"When you mistreat your mate, you are mistreating yourself.  Think about it.  Your lives are now interwoven together.  Your spouse cannot experience joy or pain, blessing or cursing, without it also affecting you."

"It’s time to let love change your thinking.  It’s time for you to realize that your spouse is as much a part of you as your hand, your eye, or your heart.  She, too, needs to be loved and cherished. "

These two statements stand out to me, in part because I still have the bad habit of viewing the two of us (my wife and I) as separate individuals, though I am learning daily how what affects one affects the other, particularly what affects me affects her.

"Just as you treasure your eyes, hands, and feet, you should treasure your spouse as a priceless gift."

 There's the rub. I treat my wife as a roommate, a longtime friend, even a girlfriend, but I don't truly treat her as Wife. (Yes, that's a capital "W"). This is probably one of the largest areas I need to grow in.

The challenge, then, is to do something that shows my wife I cherish her, which is funny, because that's one of the things we were talking about the other day that I've been failing to make her feel - cherished.

Now to do something genuine that doesn't fall flat because I didn't consider all the angles.