"But Jesus called them to him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many'" (Matthew 20:25-28).
I am fascinated at how often couples squabble over decisions. The conflicts usually stem from both spouses trying to get their way. Rather than serving the other, they demand service. It saddens me to see marriages where there is an obvious, perpetual tension to rule. Rather than using his God-given role to serve his wife, the husband will use his role to build comfort and pleasure for himself. And rather than using her God-given role to serve her husband, the wife will try to overthrow her role, and become the husband. The cure to such conflict is for both spouses to embrace their God-given roles, and serve one another.
I got to thinking about this as I saw a picture on Yahoo news in which a smirking Hillary Clinton was rebuking and chastising a four star general over military policy. What on earth does Mrs. Clinton know about military success? The firm, yet patient response of a career man-of-war was rather ironic when placed against the know-it-all arrogance of an ignorant senator.
God has told us how to be first in the Kingdom of Heaven. Serve one another. And we, like Mrs. Clinton, arrogantly stare back at God and chastise him. God is like the general, patiently explaining to us how to have marital success. And we are like Mrs. Clinton. Not satisfied with our own role, we seek to dethrone God, and tell him how it should be. Stupid.
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