"What Wives Need to
Know About Their Works and Themselves"
The following is a summary adaptation of material from
"The Excellent Wife" by Martha Peace.
1. God
has prepared good works for the Christian wife to do.
"For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10
Usually when we think of
"works" we think of outward things,
don't we? But did you know that the motives of
your heart and your attitude are also works? In
fact, they are probably the greatest benefiting factor
that you will have in your quest for becoming an
excellent wife. When your attitude is right, your focus
will become totally inward. You will become more and more
concerned about what YOU are supposed to be doing instead
of what your husband is supposed to be doing. All of us
know how easy it is to be so busy worrying about what
others are (or are not) doing right that we loose focus
of our own lives. It is especially easy for us to judge
our husbands because we live with them! We are reminded
of their mistakes day and night. Let us continually pray
that God will give us the grace to humbly pray each day,
"Father, show me what I am
to do today. Teach ME to do the
good works that You have called ME
to do."
2. The Christian
wife's good works have eternal worth.
"...each man's work
will become evident; for the day will show it,
because it is to be revealed with fire; and the
fire itself will test the quality of each man's
work. If any man's work which he has built upon
it remains, he shall receive a reward." I
Corinthians 3:13-14
I don't believe that any of us are
exempt from wanted to be rewarded or praised for the good
things that we do. It is encouraging to me to know that
God has promised eternal rewards for all the properly
motivated works that I do here on this earth. I Timothy
4:8 reminds us that our ministry to our husbands is,
"profitable for all things, since it holds the
promise for the present life and also for the life to
come." So you see, being an excellent wife holds
rewards not only here on this earth, but also when we
spend eternity in Heaven with our Lord.
3. The Christian wife
does not have to be afraid.
"Thus Saray obeyed
Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become
her children if you do what is right without
being frightened by any fear." I Peter 3:6
Mrs. Peace explains it this way:
"God is the determiner of what is right. He has
clearly revealed right and wrong throughout His Word. So,
why might you or any Christian wife be afraid to do the
right thing? Perhaps you are afraid that you will be
hurt, disappointed, embarrassed, or "taken advantage
of." Perhaps you may be unsure of what is right.
However, the most likely reason that you may be afraid to
do what God wants it that you are afraid you won't have
your own way. There are all kinds of wrong reasons why
you might use your means to try to accomplish your
end. For example, you might desire for your husband to do
well at work (your end result) so you might lie to his
boss about why he is late for work (your means). Instead
of taking matters into your own hands, do the right
thing by telling the truth and not giving in to your
fear." (page 13)
4. The focus of the
Christian wife is to be on God rather than herself.
"Therefore, since we
have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding
us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and
the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before
us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set
before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
Jesus tells us in His Word that He
came to do the work of His Father. He never had his own
agenda. And, despite all the humiliation and shame that
He suffered, He never once lost sight of His purpose for
coming to earth. He kept His focus on His mission even to
the end--suffering agony and shame as He hung on a cruel
cross. Suppose that Jesus has not prayed in the Garden of
Gethsemane, "...Nevertheless, not MY will but THINE
be done." Suppose He had reacted in a selfish way
and gone by HIS own agenda. If that had been the case
then today we would all still be lost and undone,
separated from God with no hope.
During the course of this study and
the continuance of your journey to becoming the excellent
wife you cannot afford to take our eyes off Jesus. If you
do, you will once again become selfish and self-centered.
This will only lead back to the road of misery as you try
to fulfill the role of "helper suitable" for
your mate. We would all do well to heed the warnings of
our brother, the apostle Paul, and strive toward keeping
our eyes upon Jesus and God's purpose for our lives
rather that on ourselves.
5. A Christian wife
does not have to sin.
"...knowing this, that
our old self was crucified with Him, that our
body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has
died is freed from sin." Romans 6:6-7
Please do not misunderstand what is
being said here. Everyone continues to sin after
salvation. But here in Romans 6 the phrase, "done
away with" means "rendered powerless." Sin
no longer has dominion or power over us once we belong to
God. It has been broken by Christ Himself. If you have
truly been born again, the victory is yours. The battle
has already been won! You are free to make the right
choices, free to do the right thing. Pray that God will
give you grace and mercy. None of us HAVE to sin, as we
are no longer bound by sin. The choice is ours.
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