Author Archive for Nancy Ann

Page 2 of 74

A Respectful Wife

Published by Nancy Ann on August 16, 2010 in Marriage. 8 Comments

One of God’s clear commands to wives is to see that they respect their own husbands. One of the hard things to get wives to see is that this is not about their husbands. It is not a command to the husbands to be respectable (though they should). It is to and for the wives. And respect is really about the wives, not the husbands.

What do I mean by this? A wife is to see that she does something herself. Respect is a behavior that the wife is to display. Here are a few things that characterize a respectful wife.

1. She thinks right thoughts about her husband, contemplating his strengths and godly traits.

2. She shows gratitude to him for his work and provision and abilities.

3. She shows concern for his needs and wishes.

4. She speaks courteously to him.

5. She fulfills his requests, submitting to him in the little things and the big things.

6. She speaks highly of him to others.

7. She is trustworthy.

8. She goes to him for counsel first.

9. She prays for him.

10. She forgives him.

Now some women will say, “I refuse to do that. My husband is not worthy of such treatment.”  Then why did you marry him? Some husbands may say that they refuse to love their wives because they are not lovely or lovable. So why did they marry women they couldn’t love? They are still required by Scripture to love them anyway.

This is why it is so important for women to marry someone for whom they have great respect. Otherwise, this is a very high bar. If you have great regard for your husband, then you married the right guy. And respecting a respectable man is not too difficult after all.

But if on the other hand, you are already married to someone for whom you have little respect, the command is still there, but it will be much more difficult to obey. At the same time, if you begin to treat your husband with respect unconditionally, out of respect for Christ and His Word, it will be good for you and good for your husband.

Wrapping up Romans

Published by Nancy Ann on August 16, 2010 in Good Preaching. 0 Comments

Yesterday my husband finished the book of Romans, and what a rich wrap-up it was! I’ll just select one point that I particularly appreciated, but it’s hard to choose. (You’ll have to listen to the sermon yourself!)

God made us to be small creatures, but He did not make us petty creatures. When Christ became a man, He humbled Himself, but His humility wasn’t in the fact that He became small; it was because He took on our sins.

We, on the other hand, turn small things into petty things. We focus on rules about petty things rather than seeing the big picture. We get all worked up over mud tracked in on the carpet, and that is a petty thing! We let petty things become enormous things.

The gospel sheds light on all the small, ordinary things in our lives and transforms them into extraordinary things. And so we can glory in the mundane. Quoting Thomas Howard, we can find “splendor in the ordinary.”

There are big things afoot in the universe, so we ought to look up! We are going to live forever! When we stare at our feet and the ground under them, we miss what is really going on around us, and we get wrapped up in petty things. Instead, we need to look up! We need to quit looking down and start looking up to Christ, for that is where our life is hidden. God does not want us to settle for petty things or get submerged in the petty things, caught up in shuffling our stuff around. God created us for so much more.

Nothing like the book of Romans to lift us up out of ourselves!

Letting Them Go

Published by Nancy Ann on August 14, 2010 in Mothering. 6 Comments

We attended a lovely wedding tonight, and once again we witnessed parents sending their kids off and letting them go. Children are a gift from the Lord,and parents who have been good stewards of their children have equipped them to leave.

I remember years ago when my son was off at grad school, someone asked me, “Aren’t you so sad to have your son gone?” And of course I missed him. But I told her that there was one thing worse than a son who leaves, and that is a son who doesn’t. The whole purpose of bringing up children is to send them off, not to keep them home.

When our children are wise, they are a great joy to their parents, especially when they start households of their own.

Supernatural Love

Published by Nancy Ann on August 10, 2010 in Mothering. 23 Comments

As wonderful as a mother’s natural love for her children may be, it is not enough. She is going to need supernatural love. Moms can rapidly run to the end of their supply of natural love and find themselves not feeling very loving at all. This is why we need God’s love, the 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love, if we want to give our children what they really need to have fat souls.

Consider the great love passage in 1 Corinthians, and let’s see what it has to say to mothers.

1. Love is longsuffering. Moms will have plenty of provocations in this world, so they need to be able to suffer for a long time. Some of this longsuffering involves putting up with people who degrade motherhood and despise children. Moms need to think long term, give themselves a good job description, and adopt God’s view of the high calling of motherhood.

2. Love is kind. “She openeth her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness” (Proverbs 31:26). Much kindness (and unkindness) comes via words. Pervasive kindness means listening, forgiving, anticipating, speaking, and doing. It includes physical comforts for your kids: giving them clean beds, warm food, soap and water. It is a LAW of Continue reading ‘Supernatural Love’

Good Preaching

Published by Nancy Ann on August 9, 2010 in Good Preaching. 5 Comments

My husband has been preaching through Romans for the past year or so, and we are closing in on the finish line. Yesterday was chapter 16, verses 17-20, and here are a few highlights.

Paul tells the brethren to avoid those who cause division. In other words, divide from the divisive, which at first glance may seem inconsistent. But God’s way to peace is by crushing the head of the serpent, not by calling for a group hug with the serpent.

We are to be simple when it comes to evil and wise when it comes to good.  When it comes to the devil’s kindergarten class, we are to be the kind of students who can’t figure out how to hold the crayon. We are to avoid evil with a very simple revulsion. But when it comes to learning righteousness, we are to be in graduate school because we have asked God to bruise the serpent’s head in us.

We are to keep it simple: love God, hate sin, read the Bible, love our neighbor, and trust in Jesus. Love the good people and fight the bad people, just like God does.

Merkles on the Move

Published by Nancy Ann on August 5, 2010 in Amoretti. 2 Comments

Be sure to pop over to Bekah’s blog to get a peek at the wallpaper in her “new” house and see who won the Breakfast Recipe Challenge.