The man made the mistake of not understanding that valuing her could better be achieved through obeying God. And the woman didn't seem to understand the concept of leading and following ...in reference to when, and who should differentiate it.
The woman is under a shelter of protection in some respects when following her husband ...not that much different from children being protected within their obedience to their parents.
Many times this aspect of children's obedience, or a wife's honoring her husband's judgment ...whether agreeing with it or not, is looked upon as just something in the 'rather not' category.
The bottom line is, that it should also be the top-of-the-line ...with man following God. We find that with successive reinforcements of patterned behavior, where man is not loyal to the woman ...it erodes the woman's character. She then responds in wild desperation, feeling abandoned, and in turn, abandoning the very feelings that make her who she could be ...and it leads to the degradation and total annihilation of her inborn emotions, leading ultimately to drastic things ---inclusive of abortion. If you look at the Jack Pine, it has a bond of protection built into its cones, so strong that only the intense heat of a fire can break it. The bond of a mother and a child is no less strong. What intense heat are you taking to release that bond?
Fire is also known to purify, and enable regrowth ...though I don't welcome it. Fire is also destructive. The fire that burns inside a person, can heat up anger and fury. It doesn't even have to be directed towards the thing it eventually manifests itself against.
So, there's a bond between a mother and a child. There's another bond, which I've already touched upon, that is vitally important. It's related to the mother-child bond, in that it energizes it. The bond I'm referring to is the one between a man and a woman.
This bond between a man and a woman is vitally important, not only to energize the woman, but to energize the child as well. The first mention of 'love' in the Bible was expressed as a love between a man and his child. How important is this? Have you listened to Ben Carson? Do you even know who he is? If not, if you can read this, you can just as easily 'Google' his name to find out. How about popular speakers who speak on this? And we have had organizations formed such as Promise Keepers. But, what is common to all of them, that has such great value that it was mentioned as something vital that needs to be fixed before the great and dreadful day of the Lord? It says, "Behold, I will send you Elijah ...and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, ..." Some of you may think this is one particular man, or it could be a spiritual awakening in the hearts of communities of believers.
How then, did we fall away? What can we do to avoid this from getting any worse, when society seems to embrace the very thing that erodes our character and well-being? To begin to understand, do we not have to look closely where we began to go astray?
It begins not by eating a fruit, but by ignoring the fruits of the Spirit ... love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control.
Love matures and blossoms as a result of the combination of patience and self-control. We all want joy, but find moments when it is not forthcoming. If we endure hurt feelings that injure our spirit, with patience and without resentment, that is meekness. Kindness and gentleness restores joy ...and accepting disappointment without resentment brings peace. But, our true peace comes from true love ...which is in having faith in Him who sent His Son, providing us meaning beyond hope ...to reality.
God is very patient with us as we take time in getting to know Him. But, when we put that 'knowing' on the back burner, and begin to cook up our own feelings ...it often leads to sensual relationships thriving on spontaneity and lack of self-control, diminishing our relationship with Him.
God gave us our gender, and He gave us our ability to express that in the most intimate way ...through marriage. That was intended to only be expressed sexually 'after' marriage; and between that particular man and woman who accept God's course for it. When society departs from this, it takes a long-time to undo all the confusion, misdirected emotions, and renew the trust. Until then, promiscuity thrives ...and emotions are traded on the market like discounted used items, of lessened value. And each desperately tries to salvage what they have lost, while maximizing what they themselves have manufactured.
We often visualize a very competitive "battle of the sexes". Each searching for who they are, what they are entitled to, and what they can do to demand that which should not be demanded.
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You may have, at one time or another, given an apple to your teacher ...in appreciation for the person, and what they taught you. Even though I may think I do a better job, I still have a degree of faith in our educational system ...they are not rotten to the core. But, please don't change the core curriculum! And we have been greatly in error when removing the mention and teachings of God out of our schools.
I always thought the Ten Commandments were a good starting point for guidelines ...but, how many of them are actually followed? And how often do we celebrate the acts involved in not following them?
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