Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Never try to live on the old manna, nor seek to find help in Egypt.” As believers in Jesus Christ, we should not try to find marriage counselors from the secular world, help for training and disciplining children or any type of relational advice from them either, since they come from an entirely different perspective with different goals than a Christ follower.
Recently, Susan wrote to me about her father who is living a sinful lifestyle and she
doesn’t want to have anything to do with him. However, she knows from Scripture
that she must honor her mother and father. How does she reconcile the two? If
she went to the secular world or probably even many lukewarm believers, they
would probably tell her she didn’t need to have anything to do with him if he
was doing something she didn’t like. The Bible is outdated and written by men
any ways.
What
does the Bible say? We are to honor our father and mother regardless of their
behavior. Our parent’s disobedience
doesn’t give us a right to be disobedient, just as a husband’s disobedience
doesn’t give his wife the right to be disobedient. We will one day stand
alone in the presence of the Lord and have to give an account for our actions,
not our parent's or spouse's. We are told to reverence our husbands and respect
all those in authority over us for the positions they hold and the
responsibility that goes along with it.
How
does Susan honor her father who is living a sinful lifestyle? She needs to gain
an eternal perspective. Hell is an awful place to spend eternity and she must
keep his eternal soul in mind in all her behavior towards him. Pray for him
consistently. Write him notes with Scripture verses and encouraging words. When
she sees him, she should always be kind and loving since the Lord may use her to win him to the Lord. Remember, even Jesus asked the Father to forgive those
who were murdering him. Those trapped in sinful lifestyles are in bondage to
sin and the enemy is winning their soul. It is all a spiritual battle being
waged in the heavenlies. When you try to win your parent, spouse, children, and
friends to the Lord, you use the same weaponry: the armor of the Lord to fight
this battle. Once you put on the Lord’s armor, you have a great chance of
winning them to the Lord because greater is He who is in you than he who is in
the world.
Whenever
you have a relationship problem, go to the Word or to a godly person you know.
Don’t seek help in Egypt. Years ago, Egypt said pornography was fine. Now, they
are realizing the harm in it. We always knew sexual immorality is evil and
something we must flee since the Word is clear about it. Read and study the
Word to find principles to live by. You will never go wrong obeying the Lord in
what He commands that you do. It is much better to reap rewards from the Lord,
than the manna the world has to offer that quickly spoils.
But
without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Hebrews
11:6
