Friday, June 16, 2017

The Other Woman - Part 4

Some men will shower women with affection but in and of itself that behavior isn't spiritual. The fall has made men into people who 'satisfy' and 'deprive'.

"I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." - 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 ESV

Satisfying others, including a spouse or lover, is just an advanced form of self-satisfaction.

Mankind is made to glorify God. Men and woman do this in overlapping ways.

A woman needs the subjective experience of being, 'holy in body and spirit' in order to feel complete. A man can never do that for her. He can contribute to an environment where that can happen. He can be a covering and a catalyst but he can't satisfy her in that deepest need of her soul.

"Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." - Genesis 2:18 ESV

Likewise, one woman can help one man to be the man he was meant to be.

"Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct." - 1 Peter 3:1-2 ESV

This subjection is not subservience. It is a present and loving participation in the union. The fall has created in women a need for continuous validation. A believing woman knows she is holy because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. She Is seated together with Christ in Heavenly places no matter what her circumstances may suggest. Other people can reinforce that and provide a hedge for that to be learned and experienced.

A Godly husband points his wife to the holiness she has in Christ and a Godly wife says, in word and deed, that she is with her husband as he pursues his sometimes elusive calling.

"And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - a threefold cord is not quickly broken." - Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV

The 'other woman' is attracted to the stability of a man who seems to be pleasing someone else. She doesn't know that by defiling herself she only moves farther away from true satisfaction. Holiness is the only thing that can give her true 'wholeness.'

The man sees another way to satisfy himself by satisfying or depriving another human being but he also destroys his own soul in the process because it is a soul attachment that creates a present and future distraction (because of guilt) from realizing and experiencing his identity in God's calling.

Marriage, the only sanctioned sexual relationship, is a good place to glorify God but it is not the only place. If God gives us this, the closest of unions, so be it. It will never provide the ultimate satisfaction. God Himself Is that wholeness. Jesus came to give that to us and it is ours if we have Him and dwell in the covering thinking with Him provides.

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