Abiding Fellowship, part 9

Picking up with the story from Mel Tari that I referenced as we wrapped up yesterday. 

“When I was in Houston, Texas, a lady came to me and said, “Brother Mel, I love Jesus.” “That’s nice,” I said, “Why are you coming to me? If you love Jesus, everything is right in your life!”
 

“No, everything in my home isn’t all right,” she said, “My husband isn’t as spiritual as I am. That is why we have so much trouble at home.”
 

“My dear, what is the trouble?” I asked. “He’s a hypocrite,” she said, “He doesn’t love the Lord as I do.” Then she really ran her husband down. 

“I came to ask you to pray that the Lord would help my husband repent and really love Jesus,” she continued.
 

I said, “OK!” so we started to pray. As we were praying the Lord showed me that the husband was not the problem, but rather the woman was. 
 

After prayer I said, “Sister, your husband isn’t the problem – the problem is in you.” She said, “But I love Jesus.” I said to her; ”Yes, you love Jesus but you have spiritualized your love. You love someone who is in heaven while you don’t love the one you live with here on earth.”
 

“Be honest with me: Do you really love Jesus? Jesus says, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you – continue in my love (John 15:9)” We cannot say we love Jesus until we show it, feel it and practice it, one to another. Basically, this verse is asking, “How can you say you love God when you can’t love those you see and touch in this life?”
 

I asked her again, “Do you really love Jesus, and your husband?” She said, “I love Jesus. But how can I love my husband when he is not as spiritual as I am?” Then she said, “I don’t even like him.”
 

I said, “Do you ever call him honey while he is at home?” “No,” she said, “I just call him by his first name.”
 

“Do you make a nice lunch for him when he comes home from work. A lunch that he likes rather than what you like? When he walks in the door do you ever greet him with a kiss?” She said, ”No.”
 

“Sister, that is your problem. I don’t believe you truly love Jesus. You are spiritualizing your love. When Jesus talked about love, He made it simple and practical. But you make it so spiritual that you cannot even apply it to your own husband.”
 

I continued, “What if Jesus would have continually confessed his love for his Father while he was on earth – but refused to go to the cross for us? Would his confession of love for the Father have been true, or would it have benefited us in any way?” 
 

“You will never prove your love for Jesus, until you love your husband.” He went on to tell her to start doing things for her husband - simple things like calling him “honey” and preparing him meals the way he liked them. 

Their problems had been going on for their entire marriage. Within one month after she began showing kindness to her husband, the man got saved. Here is what the woman’s husband said after she began trying what had been suggested: “Before, she would tell me that she loved Jesus, but I never believed her. How could she love Jesus and never show love to me? I just couldn’t believe it. But, oh, when she began to treat me kindly, I knew she really loved Jesus!” 

That woman had no spiritual capacity until she began to actually do the Will of God. Until she became a doer of the Word, she was willing to live in disobedience to God’s Word, thinking she was the spiritual one.

Continued tomorrow