Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011
Weekend Speaker: Ben Sigman
Theme: Love Sex and Marriage - The Love You're Looking For
This eDevotional was written by a volunteer from Timberlake Church.
Read: Acts 4:13; Genesis 34: 24-35
Think: “Women go into a relationship wanting the man to change, men go into a marriage wanting the woman to stay the same, and both are disappointed.”
I was told this piece of wisdom when I began dating my now husband, and over the years I have seen it hold true among many of my friends. One in particular recently became single because her husband ‘hadn’t changed’. Probably more accurately, he hadn’t changed the way the woman had planned.
When we first meet someone it’s a bit like buying a house… We look around to find the features we are looking for, things we hadn’t expected and a few drawbacks we hadn’t planned on. Unlike a house though, people keep growing and changing and we can’t control the way they (or we) change. God the Master Builder takes us each through our individual changes and seasons of growth to become the person He has made us.
All too often we become frustrated with our partner because they are not changing ‘properly’ or according to plan. And we forget to look at the changes we ourselves are going through. Only by realizing that God is the one that transforms others- not us - can we take the pressure off them to be someone they simply are not.
How wonderful our relationships will be when we stop anticipating changes in the other one and appreciate what God is doing. The best thing about God transforming us is that not only is it for our good but also it is so often beyond what we believe could be changed. Both our passages today show people who were not only changed by their time with God but changed in ways others would not have imagined possible.
Do: Look back at your life five years ago. How have you been transformed by God? How have those around you been transformed? Can you see an area where you prayed for change and God worked beyond your expectations? Celebrate that!
Pray: Lord we thank you that people do not change because of our desire but because of Yours. Thank you that your plan for our lives and growth exceed our imaginations and are always for our good. Please help us accept that we and others have areas for growth without us trying to change them but bringing them to you in prayer.