Recipe for Pancakes-Part 12

Going deeper requires more of God to continue the journey.

Love believes all things...

This phrase transitions us beautifully from bearing (covering/ protecting) the faults and sins of our spouse into believing the truth about them.  Basically, we are protecting the person that they are but have not become yet from the person that they currently are.

This word "believes" typically refers to the faith that one puts in Jesus Christ...you know, saving faith.  The faith that we are saved with is the greatest act of faith that we will ever exercise.  That kind of faith says that all that you have done and ever will do against God, who you have never seen or talked to before, has been wiped clean because of what another man, that claimed to be God in the flesh, did on a cross 2000+ years ago.  Kind of wild to think about it like that but it's true none the less.

So, who is your spouse?  Don't ask what have they done.  Who they are and what they are doing is not the same thing.  In order to believe all things you must move beyond what you are currently witnessing.  To believe you don't use your eyes or your heart; you use His eyes and His heart.

So, who does God see your spouse as being?  Is he the righteous man that stands in the face if evil and does not flinch?  Not yet?  Don't worry; God is still working on him.  Look at him with God's eyes; see him now?  Is she the virtuous woman that stands by your side as you walk the path set before you?  Not yet?  Not to fret; God is still working on her.  Look at her with God's eyes; see her now?

In Judges 6, we find the story of Gideon.  Gideon is one of the most prominent stories of someone who did not see what God saw.  When the angel addressed Gideon, he called him "mighty man of God."  That was not how he saw himself.  But, after he began to see what God saw he was able to act according to that identity.

How you see your spouse and how you treat them will directly affect the outcome of your marriage.  If you see them and treat them as the immoral, inconsiderate person that they are acting like---it is who they remain.  But, if you see them and treat them as the honorable, righteous child of God that they truly are they will begin to change.

Don't be disheartened if they don't change overnight.  What you see is not what you get....because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen...Hebrews 11:1

Josh and Serena