To the hedonistic culture of Roman Crete, and to the equally pleasure-seeking and narcissistic culture of today, God gives the same message. We are to be self-denying, others-ahead-of-ourselves-choosing believers.
That self-sacrificing lifestyle is never easy, always strange to the culture, and constantly glorifying to God. God made happiness, peace, and joy to grow only along the narrow pathway of grace-energized self-denial. When wives and mothers heed this call for grace-energized love for their husbands and children, they begin down that narrow pathway of self-denial. Grace-energized love for husbands and children leads to the deepest happiness, joy, and fulfillment.
But when God’s pathway of self-denial is un-followed, His admonitions unheeded, and life gets “graceless” without the grace of God energizing a life, marriage, and family–there is only emptiness, frustration, and sorrows. How is this grace-energized emotional love for your husband and children cultivated? Paul explains that in Romans 12:10.
Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another; NKJV
Love is encouraged when selfishness is mortified. Selfishness will hinder, thwart, and stifle this grace-energized love God wants from wives and mothers. But selfishness is not the biggest hindrance; we already saw the one that is far more deadly, and it is called bitterness. As we have studied, bitterness is a deadly cancer that grows rapidly and produces a deadly poison that paralyzes a believer’s love, robs their joy, and ends their peace. It zaps their spiritual strength and removes God’s blessing from their lives. So at all costs, avoid bitterness.
From GEW-09d – Grace-Energized Mothers Deal with Bitterness (070624PM)
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