Date Your Wife Book Review

I have been married for 9 1/2 years now. My wife, Lindsey, and I have 3 small children. The oldest is 5, the middle just turned 2, and the youngest is 15 months. Life is good. Marriage is good. But most everything could always stand some improvement. I'm certain my marriage is no different. Two grown sinners plus three small sinners plus busy lives plus ministry basically equals what seems like total chaos some days.

I recently finished reading a book titled "Date Your Wife".This book was exactly what I needed! I love what Justin does in this book by taking us back to the Creation account. He even gives a new vision of just exactly what it means "to work and keep" the Garden (Genesis 3:15). This is the foundation and backbone for the entire book. He even gives a little more life to the language by saying "these Hebrew verbs can be better translated: cultivate and guard"(41). He continues with these verbs throughout the book and that was really helpful to me.

One great thing about this book is the fact that it is grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Over and over Justin takes us back to not only the Cross, but also to grace. He encourages all men to have grace-filled marriages. He rightly says, "Every husband has a belief system that drives his life and drives his marriage. Religion destroys men and marriages, but the Gospel makes men new and marriages new" (79). I also love how the book parallels the same pattern as the Bible does, as it relates to man. "The Good. The Bad. The New. The Perfect." (124)

Most men I know don't do a whole lot of reading. And big books oftentimes scare people off, especially men, including me sometimes. That's why I love how Justin has set this book up. It is a very easy read. I love the ease of the short chapters. I think he has made this book very readable for all men. It is also loaded with personal stories and experiences, which I always love while reading. And perhaps the best part of all is the "Take Action" section at the end of each chapter. Justin clearly has given us more than an idea and some information. He gives men everywhere ways and ideas to think deeper and apply what he has laid out in this book.

The most life changing portion of the book for me was chapter 4. I think it will wake many men up to the current state of their marriage. Justin makes a fresh discovery (fresh to me at least) in Genesis about Adam and his wife. I don't want to ruin it for you, but I will simply ask you this question: Do you think that since you are a "committed" husband, who isn't going to leave your wife, you have completed your duty as a husband?

This book is a must read for any man who is married and truly desires for his marriage to be how God created it to be! Now you and I have to make time to date our wives!

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere

It's five o'clock somewhere! At least every hour on the hour that is true. Alan Jackson's song echoes a theme of the everyday working man and woman this day in time. That theme is "Let's go to the house! ASAP! I need to get this work pressure behind me and get on with real life! 'Pour me something tall and strong,'" as the song goes. It is not hard to see that relaxation, recreation, and entertainment are highly valued in our culture and hard work, responsiblility, repetition, and consistency out the window.

In the series I have been doing with the teenagers at church, I have been addressing some the things that culture has a backwards view on. KROW is one of them. Work is a burden, a distraction, and just flat out holding people back from what they really want to do. But is that the picture of work we see in the Bible?

Here are three quick points from the Bible that teach us about work. I hope they are fruitful for you personally as you fight the same war all believers fight against "the course of this world" (Ephesians 2:2).

1. God created you to work. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." We have the account of God creating all that exists in Genesis Chapter 1. Shortly after, in Genesis chapter 2, we have a "zoom in" (as I like to call it) on the day He created man and woman. One thing we see from that day is that God put the man in the garden He had created earlier (2:8). And verse 15 goes even further to say that God "put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it". One thing we must be careful to remember about this particular passage is, the Fall had not yet happened. This was when the creation and everything in it was still perfect. So, we see that in God's perfect plan for creation, man had a purpose and a job. I don't think it was exactly like what you might think though, because we see the sweat, thorns, and thistles come in later in verses 18-19 of chapter 3. The point is, man worked before the Fall, showing us that work is a good thing.

2. Your health demands you to work. It's no coincidence that there is a higher demand for psychologists and psychiatrists than ever before! There are a great deal of people in America who are unemployed. Some of them are not by choice, but I would say well over half of those are by choice. They probably wouldn't confess that openly but their actions prove otherwise. People who don't work lack purpose, stability, and meaning in their life. This is why many people end up depressed and/or going down roads of alcohol, affairs, drugs, addictions, etc bringing them to the offices of these psychologists. The Proverbs are full of instrucution to avoid idleness, laziness, and not working. My favorite is probably 24:30-34. There are many more. Another strong one is found in 28:19.

Also, not only does our spiritual and emotional health demand us to work, so does our physical health!

3. Your family needs you to work. Paul told Timothy, "if anyone does not provide for his realtives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Timothy 5:8). God requires you to take care of others in your family.....simple as that.

Even though there is very little discussion on these points, I hope you can see that the Bible clearly values work and the need for all people to work and have purpose in their life. Hopefully, in the near future I will write the practical side of all this that was part two of the lesson.

As always, your comments are welcome, both positive and negative!

 

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