Scriptures:
1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Proverbs 12:22
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
Couples Devotion – September 21
September 21
[T]here’s the Great Problem of marriage. The one person in the whole world who holds your heart in your hand, whose approval and affirmation you most long for and need-is the one who is hurt more deeply by your sins than anyone else on the planet.. … When we see how devastating truth-telling. …can be… we may then decide that our job is to shut up … stuff and hide what we really think and feel. We exercise… love, but not truth. (Hardcover, pp. 162- 63; paperback, pp. 180-81)
THE NEED FOR GRACE. We have been looking at two “powers” of marriage: truth and love. But these two powers create a tension. Our spouses, as we have seen, do not merely learn the truth about our sin in an abstract way. We sin against our spouses and we hurt them. How will they, in spite of that, be enabled to use their power to love and edify? How can you affirm someone whose sins you see so painfully well? We choose may to only tell the truth or only be loving-but it takes both to bring about change. The powers of truth and love will only work together if they are joined by a third-the power of grace and forgiveness.
Reflection: It is difficult to be truthful and loving at the same time. We tend to choose one over the other. Which one do you tend to choose?!!
Thought for prayer: Thank the Lord that he is not merely a demanding and just God or one of indiscriminate beneficence. Thank him for the grace of the Cross, which reveals how he can both be infinitely just to punish sins and infinitely merciful to forgive sins at the same time.
Reference: The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy and Kathy Keller.