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Marriage 2

Word of the Day

“Do everything without complaining and arguing….” Philippians 2:14a

Guys: There is a question that I am a bit hesitant to ask Diana because I am afraid her answer would be yes. My reluctant question is “Diana, do you think I complain too much?” The reason I am afraid she would say yes is there never seems to be a shortage of things for me to grumble about. Important things like, why are the Diamondbacks or Cardinals losing so much of the time! J I’m trying to lighten this up, but, it is very serious. It’s easy to get personal….maybe complaining about something that was done or said that didn’t meet my standard. You all know what I’m talking about; it’s so easy to say things that can be hurtful. I’m not sure there is a measurement as to how much a complaining mouth affects a marriage relationship, but I think it can have a huge negative effect. Paul says to “do all things without grumbling …” so by complaining about everything, I am in effect “rejecting God’s providence, will and circumstance for my life,” as John MacArthur says. I wonder how much of a difference it would make in our relationships with our wives, if we as husbands spent more time living out Paul’s words in I Thess 5:11 “…encourage one another and build up one another…” rather than complaining.

Father, please help us as husbands to have a heart which encourages and builds up our wives. Please remove any desire to complain and replace it with thankfulness and encouragement.

Ladies: In thinking about this blog and the subject of complaining I almost feel awkward talking about it because there have been so many times when I have failed miserably. When complaining, I’m usually filled with pride and selfishness and looking at others instead of myself….or I might just be unhappy because things aren’t going my way…..or it might be I think I have all the answers and no one is listening to what I think. I don’t know about you, but Dave is usually my sounding board, and he’s the one that has to listen. When meditating on this verse I started wondering, how does my grumbling affect Dave? What kind of a helpmate am I being if I have a complaining attitude much of the time? One of my favorite verses in Proverbs 31 is verse 26, “She opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” Wow, wouldn’t that be an amazing goal to be a wife that speaks kind words. God desires and commands that we respect our husbands….I guess this would be a great way to start!

Lord, guard our hearts. Please remove any pride or selfishness and give us words that demonstrate to our husbands how much we love and respect them. Lord, please fill us with words that strengthen our marriage relationships.