Are you one to quickly sulk when the going gets tough and you are inconvenienced and mistreated? Or are you one to pause, breathe, step back and go out of your way for the others? Love at work is the latter but many people would disagree. You see, our culture dictates and influences us to be self-centered. Love yourself first before others. And we equate loving ourselves in selfish ways. Me first, then others. While it is true that we shouldn't be pushovers, weaklings and feeble-minded, loving ourselves must not me misconstrued as a license to walk over our spouses and to be self-serving. True love is sacrifice and making sacrifices means being in tune to the needs of your spouse and treating it as more important than yours. Needs may come as physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. As Paul instructed to the Philippians, "...rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." This includes first and foremost, our spouses. It isn't easy but it is not impossible. It will be tough but it is doable. Yes, it takes humility. A humble heart that knows what Jesus Christ did. He made a sacrifice unlike any other, one that cannot be earned nor repaid. He shouldn't have yet He did. We did not deserve to be guilt-free yet He laid His life for an unworthy person like you and me. This ought to keep us grounded, to serve as a reminder of what true love is, what it does and what it can do.
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Lord, I know that being human is no excuse to be self-centered, I'm sorry that I have been too wrapped up in my own difficulties, pain and hardships. I've always done nothing but whine about the pressure that life throws my way, complaining about how hard it is to deal with the burden of having people depend on me because to my thinking, I was the stronger part of the team. I expected him to understand me when I gripe, when I felt unappreciated, ignored or deprived. My distress - to my selfish way of thinking - was far more important than those of him. I demanded action, without realizing that as part of a partnership, I was supposed to deliver, too. Because of pride, I allowed the weight to pile up before I stepped in to do my part. Forgive, my self-centered and arrogant ways and strip me of it. As I got to know You, I am inspired by Your compassionate heart and sacrificing love for me. Teach me to be more like You, to respond without force to the heart of the problem without being defensive, to turn my attention to his needs and sacrifice mine. Let me be the wife You designed me to be, with attentive eyes, listening ear, comforting arms and a prayerful heart when he is anxious, stressed and in pain. You've done it for me Father, sacrificed Your son, Jesus Christ so that I may be saved. Extend me the same grace and walk with me everyday as I make my daily sacrifices to meet the needs of the one man I gave my heart to. Amen.
He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. -- 1 John 3:16
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Lord, I know that being human is no excuse to be self-centered, I'm sorry that I have been too wrapped up in my own difficulties, pain and hardships. I've always done nothing but whine about the pressure that life throws my way, complaining about how hard it is to deal with the burden of having people depend on me because to my thinking, I was the stronger part of the team. I expected him to understand me when I gripe, when I felt unappreciated, ignored or deprived. My distress - to my selfish way of thinking - was far more important than those of him. I demanded action, without realizing that as part of a partnership, I was supposed to deliver, too. Because of pride, I allowed the weight to pile up before I stepped in to do my part. Forgive, my self-centered and arrogant ways and strip me of it. As I got to know You, I am inspired by Your compassionate heart and sacrificing love for me. Teach me to be more like You, to respond without force to the heart of the problem without being defensive, to turn my attention to his needs and sacrifice mine. Let me be the wife You designed me to be, with attentive eyes, listening ear, comforting arms and a prayerful heart when he is anxious, stressed and in pain. You've done it for me Father, sacrificed Your son, Jesus Christ so that I may be saved. Extend me the same grace and walk with me everyday as I make my daily sacrifices to meet the needs of the one man I gave my heart to. Amen.
He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. -- 1 John 3:16