Category: human

Men have a potential problem when it comes to loving (agape) in that full-servant enjoyment sense. It has been seen plenty of times, a wife gets sick and a husband starts taking care of her and watching over her and his self-perceived role of “husband / lover” shifts to the bitter “caretaker / parent”. In some cases, if an illness is prolonged the husband may detach to the point of remaining in the caretaker role even after his wife gets better.

Mentally, it’s a dangerous place to be in. No longer are the lover feelings being placed on the wife, but she becomes a vehicle of love-bearing or caretaking: self-sacrifice at it’s worst. The difference is so drastic that the husband might transfer his intimate love to something or someone else.

People are often pictorial in their thinking. We may not be very good with amorphous concepts which consist only of words, but when we attach the words to an image the words make sense. For instance, the idea of a “singularity in space and time whose escape velocity exceeds the speed of light” makes more sense when described as a “black hole”. The mind went from a mathematical construction right to an image of a swirling mass of darkness with maybe a little spaceship being pulled into the vortex.

God often employs illustrations to get us to understand what he’s
talking about…be it inanimate objects (the tabernacle) or living
advertisements (Pharoah). One particular illustration in the New
Testament has an incredible double-edge. The word-picture paints a
mural of love for husbands to learn from and at the same time forms
part of the greater canvas of Christ’s love for the Church.

William Burnett

In traveling among the assemblies of God?s people, one has noted
that there appears to be a growing loss of focus in many assembly worship meetings, with
many not being aware of just why they are there, and what is expected from them, so
perhaps it would be helpful to review what we find in Scripture regarding worship and
worshippers. Let us examine a few distinctives, that may help us to appreciate what
worship is, and what is expected from us when we come together to function as a Holy
Priesthood.

Ingimar DeRidder

A Lesson from James to the Churches

Watch out when tongues get loose. They can do a lot of damage. Nothing
saddens the heart more than to hear of local churches divided, broken and destroyed by the
Devil. It is especially sad when good churches are needed to be winning souls for Christ.
The Devil has many devices which he uses to split a church and to divide one brother from
another. Let there be no mistake about it, the Devil hates the church. Today, a church is
more likely to be destroyed from within than from without.

F. B. Meyer

What glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall
take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this
is acceptable with God.”? (1?Peter 2:20)

The servants here addressed were the household servants and
slaves, so largely employed in the great establishments of that age. Wealth and position
made special boast of the vast number of dependents that were maintained. Life was held
cheaply enough; and when a slave was once purchased, he cost little to keep. The Roman
empire swarmed with bondmen; and they became her ruin.