A Tea Cup or a Mug?
A COFFEE MUG:
• It’s heavy & thick and made with a very stronger material
• Mugs are usually made of materials with low thermal conductivity, such as earthenware, porcelain or glass
• A mug is a sturdily built type of cup often used for drinking hot beverages,
• Much of the mug design aims at thermal insulation: the thick walls of a mug
• This is to insulate the beverage to prevent it from cooling or warming quickly!
• It’s hard to break and they are usually really cheap to buy
You usually find them left all over the place....I can remember at work you would find them on: Work benches..... Desks....Outside......On the floor.....In the car..... Even in the washroom sometimes. See a mug you can bang it around, and even if you put a few chips in it....but you still can us it! They are put usually behind cupboard doors Available at all times for any age! Your kid’s are outside playing and they come in for a nice cup of hot chocolate poured into a big old mug! You have the guys or company come over for coffee.......you quickly pull the mugs from the cupboards without even thinking twice about it.......But a tea cup is different!
A Tea Cup:
• Made with a very thin material..... It is typically made of a ceramic material
• Tea cups typically are of fine white translucent porcelain and can be decorated with floral patterns.
• See a tea cup needs special attention and care....
• They are to handled with the greatest of caution
Why? Because they are very thin and delicate...... they will easily break, a tea cup hardly ever gets used for day to day drinking of tea. You only see them come out very special occasions: Christmas, Easter, Thanks giving, and so on....They are usually on display in a hutch because they showcase their beauty and attention to detail designs. They are the best of the cups out of the reach of day to day use.
Men, are you starting to see the picture I’m trying to make for us here?
Your wife is not too used as some mass produced coffee mug that you find at Tim Horton’s....Your wife is to used as a beautiful created work of art as you would find at a Royal Dalton Store. “Marriage is not finding the right person; it is being the right person.” Anonymous. Turn in your bibles to 1 Peter chapter 3! Do you realize that you have the most important job of all in your family! Why? Because you are the head of the house and you will one day have to answer on behalf of your own family. Though every single one of us will have to give an account individually. You husbands will have to stand before the Lord one day for how you conducted and lead your family into the Kingdom of God......SO I ASK THE QUESTION.....Are you treating your wife like a coffee mug, that gets used by everyone and usually gets left on the table for days
or Are you treating you wives like a delicate and precious cup that needs to be handled with such care and honor! I believe we truely can.....If we listen to what the Scriptures teach us! BY DOING THIS! Your wife will be able to fulfill her role in the home with joy and love towards you and the Lord so much easier. THERE ARE 3 VERY IMPORTANT THINGS WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR:
1. WE ARE TO SHOW THEM CONSIDERATION (v7)
With “understanding” way which means be considerate to you your wife’s physical and emotional needs. Peter says we are to“Dwell” with them. Which means to live together, to live with someone who you are intimate and cherish deeply. We are to be sensitive to her: needs, fears, feelings. We are to be tender and show that love that Christ should us (Sacrificial love). We constantly nourish and cherish our wives above self...... Paul wrote "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her," Eph 5:25-28
2. WE ARE TO SHOW THEM CHIVALRY (v7)
“As weaker vessels” Just as submission doesn’t imply inherent inadequacy for the wife......or she is weaker in character or intellect than her husband. The word “weaker” means feeble, without strength..... We are to be like a knight in shining armour that comes to save the damsel in distress from the dragon that is about to devour her! Women generally possess less physical strength then men and emotional strength. We are to be sensitive to them and to make them feel comfortable. Men we are to protect and provide for our wives at any cost! Self Sacrifice......Men we are to give them an environment that is safe and secure. Not one that is hostile and in competition with everything else for your affection....“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word”, Eph 5:25-26 We are to care for their spiritual needs as an obedient husband to the word! This is to be our honor and duty for the ones He has given to us as wives
3. WE ARE TO HAVE COMPANIONSHIP (v7)
“The grace of life” which refers to eternal life through Christ. We are to share in this same unmerited grace that he showed you and me on....That’s why Peter says we are “Heirs” which refers to “participant in common: - fellow (joint) Which is that grace of life through Jesus Christ? That’s why marriage is a blessed gift from God....going back in the garden! It’s His plan for the family not the way society treats it today! It’s an intimate friendship and bond that belongs ONLY to those who are possessors of God’s most blessed gift of life....... marriage! It is the same thing that Paul wrote when he said: “that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,” Eph 3:6. Solomon said “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun,.......” Eccl 9:9. And he also said “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD.” Prov 18:22
MEN! The more I read and study the scripture...more I learn how terrible I’ve treated my wife over most of our years of marriage......That I have not been that loving leader and partner in my home! SO IF I HAD TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION 10 YEARS AGO...... I'm afraid my answer would have to be......like a coffee mug! So I ask myself the question! How do I expect my wife to fulfill her role as Peter says at the beginning of this chapter? When I haven't done what I'm suppost to do....How do I expect my wife to fulfill her role in the family when she can’t respect the person she married some days for the role that I am not fulfilling. How, is my wife to lovingly submit and walk/ dress in a way that is pleasing to God? When she has a husband that treat her like a plain old cheap mugs. When she is in competition with everything and everyone else around you! Men we must be honouring and loving our wives, as the person that God created them to be....................... Josh McDowell said it best “The greatest thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. And the greatest thing a mother can do for her children is to love their father.” I’M SO THANKFUL THAT THE LORD GAVE ME A WIFE: That is passionately in love with Him; that is gentle and respectful towards me; that submits with joyfulness in her heart; that cares about dressing her heart inside and out; that loves me as her partner and leader of the home; that makes it hard for me not to treasure her as that delicate tea cup!
SO I ASK THE QUESTION ONE LAST TIME MEN!
How are you treating your wife today? Is she like a cheap old coffee mug to you? Or Is she like a beautiful, delicate and fragile tea cup that is worthy of our highest honor and care, for as long as it takes to go home to glory? Because remember!“Eve was not taken out of Adam's head to top him, neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him.” Matthew Henry....To God be the glory for great things He has done by giving us men.......A WIFE.
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