Sunday, March 30, 2008

Lux Vent Reading Group


The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
Chapter 1: The Excellent Wife: Who Can Find?

For those of you who don't know, Leslie at Lux Vent is hosting a book study of this wonderful book. Please go to Leslie's website to find out the details and join us if you can.

I started reading this book about a year ago and was ruffled by just about every chapter I read. I was really reading it on my, and tried to talk to a few women about the things that were on my mind but discovered that it was difficult for them to know where I was coming from not having read the book. I think I made it to chapter 4 and then put the book down for another time. I was so excited when I saw that this was the book that was chosen.

What struck my heart the most was the prayer of confession that Martha has at the end of chapter 1 (page 7).

"Dear Lord I confess that I have not been the wife that you want me to be. I need your help..."

This truly opened my eyes to the fact that I need help; and I have help in Jesus Christ. I started reading the chapter over again as Martha revealed to us Gods plan for the Christian wife. She says that "Gods will for every Christian wife is that her most important ministry be to her husband (Gen 2:18). After our own personal relationship with the Lord, our husbands should be our very next priority. That is something that I must repent of day in and day out. After spending time keeping my home and taking care of my son and daughter, my husband often gets what is leftover.

The author then gives us a glimpse of what the excellent wife is like. She gives a beautiful illustration of a flower; it's pedals representing the traits of an excellent wife. She gives us these traits not for us to say, "that can never be me"... but to show us what God requires of us as Christian wives. Martha Peace says (page 6),

"A wifes responsibility is to learn to put her confidence in the faithfulness of God and His Word...She can become what He wants her to become if she does what He wants her to do."
Our struggle in being Excellent Wives to the glory of God is because of our sin. Martha Peace gives us many examples of what our sin may look like in that area, from not trusting God to not wanting to do what God has told us to do. But be of good cheer, God has provided a a remedy for our sin.

"He (God) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him". 2 Corinthians 5:21

Our loving heavenly Father has given us everything we need to become godly wives, and when we stumble and fall we can call on Him, confess our sins and gain forgiveness. This is just the beginning.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So true -- it's difficult to talk to others about a book they haven't read! I'm glad you're reading with us!!

It is a bit of an eye-opener to realize that we need God's help to be excellent wives.

Much Ado said...

I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this, I am so glad we are all reading this together as a group. it is a great opportunity to learn from God's Word, the book and also from each other.

Lisa Spence said...

Your post reminded me of something I read somewhere (how's that for a reference?): What God requires He provides. What glorious grace!

Look forward to learning more of His requirement and His provision!

Melissa said...

I missed that 2nd quote you gave. I feel like I could read this chapter over & over, and be convicted on something different every time.

I'm with the other gals who commented...it helps to be doing this as a group.

Enjoyed reading your thoughts.

Kelly said...

So glad you are joining in. I look forward to reading your posts.