ChosenRebel's Blog

I love being with my wife. It doesn’t really matter what we are doing. I love being with her. Driving, watching TV, eating a meal, reading together, traveling, hiking, even walking (I don’t walk with anyone but her, generally, I hate walking.). Any time with my bride is a joy. I love her smile, her humor, her wisdom, her counsel (even sometimes when it rains on my parade). Apart from Christ himself, she is the chief conduit of joy in my life.

Many of you who know me know that I have no problem singing my wife’s praises. Both of us are fairly private with our pictures. I might post a picture of myself once or twice a year and almost never of my bride but today is an exception. Here’s a picture from around the time we met, and from our early years as parents of small children (before God gave us the wonderful gift of a second daughter, Aubre).

I love this picture of her staring at me from below the monitor on my desk, and just behind it, a picture from about 5 years later as a young mother. They remind me of how God has blessed me with a woman who loves Jesus and, wonder of wonders, loves me, with all my idocies, insecurities and foibles, not to mention my sin and failures.

So where is all this going? Just this.

If I said I loved my wife and all these things weren’t true, if I didn’t long to be with her, if I didn’t want to talk to her, hear her and praise her, it would sound odd wouldn’t it? My words and my behavior would not line up. My professed love would sound hollow. It is just such an observation that leads Charles H. Spurgeon, the great English preacher, in his comments on an obscure passage in the Song of Solomon. Spurgeon talks about how little things can destroy big things.

“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards.”
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Song of Solomon 2:15

“A little thorn may cause much suffering. A little cloud may hide the sun. Little foxes spoil the vines; and little sins do mischief to the tender heart. These little sins burrow in the soul, and make it so full of that which is hateful to Christ, that he will hold no comfortable fellowship and communion with us. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable.

Jesus will not walk with his people unless they drive out every known sin. He says, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” Some Christians very seldom enjoy their Saviour’s presence. How is this? Surely it must be an affliction for a tender child to be separated from his father. Art thou a child of God, and yet satisfied to go on without seeing thy Father’s face? What! thou the spouse of Christ, and yet content without his company! Surely, thou hast fallen into a sad state, for the chaste spouse of Christ mourns like a dove without her mate, when he has left her.”

Spurgeon, C. H. (1896). Morning and Evening: Daily Readings.
London: Passmore & Alabaster.

Don’t let little things destroy your passion for Christ.

And, as a side note, don’t let little things destory your love for your spouse either. Cultivate and protect your love for the God you believe in and do the same for the spouse of your marriage vows.