A WORD WITH YOU By Ron Hutchcraft #5299 - "No Torpedoes in the Harbor" Colossians 3:19
Our oldest son was always a challenging child: creative, active, a mind
of his own, a different drummer he marched to than his sister and brother.
But we had our share of tender moments, too. Some of the ones I treasure in
the photo album in my mind are the times he would slow down a little and
actually climb in his Daddy's lap. And we'd just cuddle for a while.
Sometimes I wasn't sure how he could breathe with his head buried in my
chest. But then he'd look up at me with those big blue eyes and he'd say
something I've obviously never forgotten, "When I'm in your arms, Daddy, I
feel so safe."
So safe. That's not only how a child is supposed to feel with his
father; it's how a wife is supposed to feel with her husband. When a man is
really a man (at least as God defines manhood) his wife can always say,
"When I'm with you, I feel so safe." Sadly, a lot of the time the one we
promised to cherish and protect feels anything but safe with us, guys. She
feels wounded, attacked, devalued. And that's just wrong.
Listen to our word for today from the Word of God in Colossians 3:19,
"Husbands, love your wives." Now we might be OK if it stopped there. We
could pipe up and say, "Hey, no problemo. I love my wife." Sorry, but the
verse doesn't stop there. It goes on to say, " ... and do not be harsh with
them." It's pretty plain, isn't it? Love and harshness just don't go
together. Love makes a woman feel safe. Harshness makes a woman feel
anything but safe.
I wonder if maybe you've gotten so busy, so stressed, so uptight that
you've been spilling all over the one you love the most. She gets the
meanness that you can't let other people see, and she doesn't deserve it!
You stood at an altar one day and you pledged before God that you would
honor her and protect her. But you're not protecting her from you!
Sometimes, we just get all self-absorbed. I tend to drift into
self-absorption when I'm feeling really squeezed by all I've got to do,
when I'm really tired, when I'm on overload. And that is when the harsh
words are most likely to come.
Which is the total opposite of God's directive on how a man is supposed
to treat his lifetime partner. In I Peter 3:7, He tells us, "Husbands ...
be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as
the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so
that nothing will hinder your prayers." God cares so much about how you
treat your wife that it can literally be the difference in whether or not
He responds to your prayers!
Certain packages carry a sign that says "Handle with care." Wives should
come with a sign like that. But that's what they need. It's what they're
supposed to get. It's the treatment God expects us to give them. Frankly, a
woman who is being spoken to or treated harshly by her husband has an
understandable feeling of betrayal. Why? Because her husband's love was
supposed to be the harbor for which the heart of a woman truly longs.
That's harbor as in the one place where you're finally safe - the one place
you know you won't be attacked.
No woman should be hit with torpedoes in the harbor because the man who
loves her is being harsh with her. Man, when she's with you, let her know
that she is really safe.
Copyright (c) 2007, Ron Hutchcraft.
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