…we discussed lies women believe about marriage! We had a great discussion of these lies and the corresponding truths.
If you’re new here, some ladies in our community have been going through Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. It has been a challenging and excellent study!
The lie: I have to have a husband to be happy.
The truth: Happiness is not found in (or out of marriage). There is no person who can meet my deepest needs. No one and nothing can make me truly happy apart from God. God has promised to provide everything I need. If He will receive more glory by my being married, then He will provide a husband for me. Those who wait on the Lord always get His best. Those who insist on getting what they want often end up with heartache.
The lie: It is my responsibility to change my mate.
The truth: A godly life and prayer are a wife’s two greatest means of influencing her husband’s life. It is far more effective for a woman to appeal to the Lord to change her husband than to try to exert pressure on him directly.
The lie: My husband is supposed to serve me.
The truth: If I expect to be served, I will often be disappointed. If I seek to serve others, without expecting anything in return, I will never be disappointed. God made the woman to be a helper to the man. We are never more like Jesus than when we are serving others.
The lie: If I submit to my husband, I’ll be miserable!
The truth: Submission places me under the covering and protection of God, who controls the “heart of the king.” When I step out from under authority, I become vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. My willingness to place myself under God-ordained authority is the greatest evidence of how big I believe God really is. Reverent submission is a wife’s greatest means of influencing a husband who is not walking with God. A wife’s response to her husband’s authority should demonstrate the way a church is to submit to the authority of the Lord Jesus.
The lie: If my husband is passive, I’ve got to take the initiative or nothing will get done.
The truth: God created the man to be an initiator and the woman to be a responder. If a woman takes the reins rather than waiting on God to move her husband, her husband is likely to be less motivated to fulfill his God-given responsibility.
The lie: Sometimes divorce is a better option than staying in a bad (unhappy) marriage.
The truth: Marriage is a lifelong covenant that is intended to reflect the covenant-keeping heart of God. As He is faithful to His covenant, so we must be faithful to keep our marriage covenant. There is no marriage God cannot heal. There is no person God cannot change. God uses the rough edges of each partner in a marriage to conform the other to the image of Christ. God’s grace is sufficient to enable you to be faithful to your mate and to love and forgive without limit.
