Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13:14)
How do you envision putting on the Lord Jesus Christ? Reading the Bible? Praying in tongues? Memorizing scripture? Silence? Meditation? Rededication? Getting into ministry? These things are ok (maybe) but I don’t think in doing any of them we are, in any way, adding Christ to what we are wearing. If we are born again, we are in Christ and Christ is in us. I think we actually look very silly when we add things to our wardrobe, thinking we have somehow improved upon who we already are, in Christ.
The chief provision of the flesh is darkness. Darkness is the metaphor scripture uses to describe Satan’s realm. It is a temporal, well-administrated collection of lies designed to oppose God’s kingdom which is Truth everlasting – Light, radiant in spender. Our spirits are born again into this kingdom. With the Holy Spirit in us, we have become children of Light. Light and Truth are now the core of our new nature. However, with our permission, our flesh still has its say. All of us have been (and to some degree still are) duped into believing well placed lies which entangle us in darkness.
In the Love After Marriage workshop, Daneille and I served as facilitators at a table with 3 other baby-boomer couples. We had things in common; all of us had been zealous in trying to serve God, converting and discipling the lost, taking in the homeless, caring for the disabled, serving as elders, leading the songs and no doubt we applied the spiritual disciplines. Sadly, all of us have failed to love our spouses well and some of us have even sunk into abuse and addiction. All of our families paid a price for our zeal. The cost has been horrendous and (in most cases) is ongoing. Father, how can this be – your most zealous children consulting with attorneys and counselors, trying to patch together lives from the debris of failed marriages?
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law…if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (from Romans 13:8-10)
Until we were loving our spouses well, we should have each said “no” to those so-called opportunities to serve God. The pastor of those organizations that consumed our labors should have taken off his CEO cap and become the shepherd – the one who was watching out for our hearts. He should have recognized and stood in the way of our flesh’s propensity toward religion. God’s honor and glory (which is the point, right?) would have been far better represented to our children and neighbors had we simply loved our spouses. We would have fulfilled all that Christ called us to do. Through our marriages, our children would have seen an actual representation of God and his Bride instead of the sad parody of it they witnessed as they watched their parents spinning their religious hamster wheels.
However all is not lost. Our error can be redeemed. In Christ, salvation is always a now affair involving far more than sparing our souls from hell. It is a fact, in this sense, salvation is always nearer to us than we imagine. If I have learned anything in the past few days it is that the Holy Spirit is all-in when it comes to forgiveness, reconciliation and transformation, especially in marriage. The Holy Spirit is Satan’s worst nightmare and he stands ready to disentangle us from the lies we have bought into that have done so much destruction to our marriages. I think if Paul, the skillful shepherd, were to look in on our hearts today, he might customize today’s passage for us…
Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s exchange our religious strivings for the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in feverish commitment to religious codes, not in contentious and competitive relationships within the church. Instead put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its religious compulsions. (an adaption of Romans 13:8-14)
Holy Spirit forgive me where I have excluded You from my marriage and pursued ministry in my flesh. I invite You into all of the places where I have entertained lies, especially those I have conceived of as “Christian.” Thank you for awakening me from my slumber. Help me to steward the healing and renewal you have undertaken in my heart and in my marriage. So be it.