Category: marriage

cultural · God · love · marriage · Uncategorized

What is a young man’s incentive to get married?

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What is a young man’s incentive to get married?

In today’s culture, there really is none.  Think about it.  Because of feminism, promiscuity, abortion, birth control, and unfair divorce laws, a man has no reason to get married.  For a young man today, he has women exercising their, “equality” by approaching him for promiscuous sex outside of marriage.  He doesn’t have to court them, or win their affections.  No, he just has to be attractive, and willing.  He doesn’t have to worry about becoming a Father either.  Birth control, and abortion have him covered there.  Why become a Father when he can remain a boy?  Not to mention what he witnessed growing up.  His own Father was never in his life, because of the divorce his parents put him through.  He only got to see his Father on the court appointed days.  His buddies that have been divorced tell him of how they have to pay alimony, lose half their retirement accounts, take all of the debt, lose half of their assets, and only get to see their children when it is convenient for their ex.  So if he can keep having all of the sex he wants without being married, or even in a committed relationship, why would he want to go through the rest of that trouble?  This is why we need a Biblical world-view.  This is one of the ways the enemy has engineered to take down our culture.  Our culture was based on God’s word.  This is one of the ways the enemy has decided to defile us, and mock God.

cultural · God · love · marriage · Repentance · Uncategorized

Become Lowly Servants.

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

welove-christian-graphics1

The world is crazy. People are unstable, and unreliable. They are selfish, and self-centered. They don’t care what other people need. They don’t care about other people’s feelings. They only think about their own problems, and their own feelings. They don’t believe in loving other people more than they love themselves. They don’t believe it is healthy to do so. They don’t love Christ above all. People around them are only there as extensions of themselves. Their egos are tied up in them, and when they aren’t rewarded, it is easy for them to destroy the relationships they have, without care for the other people. I’m sick of seeing this, and hearing of it. Being a spouse, and a parent is not for your fun. If you are a spouse or a parent, it is not an option to cease. If you are a spouse, you made an oath to God, and your spouse, in front of witnesses. How on Earth could you justify destroying that, just because you aren’t happy? If you are a parent of a child, how could you mistreat your child because they are interrupting your, “time” or perhaps they don’t give you what you want. Well, duh! They aren’t there to complete you, or make you feel loved, or better. You are the parent for crying out loud. God has given you a job to do. Train them up in the way they should go. Teach them about God, and His word. Preach the gospel of the grace of Jesus to them. Love them more than you love yourself. Sacrifice for everyone around you. You are NOT THAT IMPORTANT!!! Become everyone’s servant. Wash some feet, lower yourself! All of the self-esteem, feminism, everyone’s a winner, sexual liberty, no fault divorce, birth control, promiscuity marketed to women as women’s lib, defilement of marriage by divorce, adultery, and gay marriage, euthanasia marketed as dying with dignity, abortion marketed as a women’s choice under women’s lib/feminism, porn turning men and women into objects, defiling gender that is God given as a gift for the procreation of image bearers of God, that was to be for His glory, and on and on and on… I’m tired… I’m disgusted… Haven’t we had enough of us? Haven’t we had our fill of this delusion? We need God. We need repentance. We need to be broken so we can see the vanity of it all. WE NEED TO HUMBLE OURSELVES AND REPENT. We need to become lowly servants. That is my rant for the day.  Like Paul when he said, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” 1 Timothy 1:15 (NASB)  We are the worst of sinners, I am the worst of sinners, you are the worst of sinners.

cultural · forgiveness · God · hate · love · marriage · Theology · Uncategorized

Are Your Feelings Determining How You View God, Or Is God Determining How You Feel?

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Are Your Feelings Determining How You View God, Or Is God Determining How You Feel?Are you acting like a child?  Are you following people who act like unreasoning beasts, and encourage others to do the same?  A child allows his emotions to rule him.  He is without discipline and only knows want.  A false teacher promotes what is against God.  He acts like an unreasoning beast, “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,” (2 Peter 2:12 NASB)

Do you let your feelings determine how you view God, and treat others?  Love is a big deal.  People go on and on about feeling like they are in love, wanting to feel love.  People also feel other emotions like, hate, impatience, greed, jealousy, envy, apathy, and pride.  People desperately want others to validate their feelings, by agreeing with them.  When we allow feelings to determine how we treat others, and how we view God, we are behaving like children.  All they know is what they want.  Their wants are not informed by anything else, just their will alone.  As they get older, hopefully their parents discipline them, and train them.  If you are an adult, and your feelings rule you, then spiritually speaking, you are a sinful little child.  If you believe all of the self-help gurus out there, teaching you how to get in touch with your feelings, and how to be happy.  God tells us how we should feel about others, about situations, and He also tells us how we should feel about Him.  When we obey our feelings that are against what God commands in His word we are definitely in sin.  

Viewing God through any other lense than His word is creating an idol in your mind.  When you just go by your fallen, sinful, emotions, to build a picture of God, it will most certainly be a false god, not the one true God of the Bible.  If you find yourself disagreeing with long-held orthodox doctrines, in favor of your own personal interpretation, chances are you are worshipping a god of your own making.  Repent, and worship the God of the Bible.  Let your mind be informed by the word of God, so that the God you worship is the true one.

As Christians, we are not to behave, think, or feel like the world.  We are to obey God in all things.  So when God tells us to love our enemies, that is what we must do.  Love needs to be thought of as an action as well as a feeling.  All of the emotions must be thought of as actions as well as a feelings, because they move us to action.  Unless God changes your heart and mind, in regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will not be able to think or feel rightly.  When you are truly born again, and you resist feeling the way your know you should or you indulge a feeling you know you shouldn’t, you are sinning.  Sinning this way is accepted by the world and encouraged.  We are not to be like the world.  

There are benefits to obeying God.  Yes, God gave us emotions, but they are under the effect of sin.  They are affected by the fall.  Knowing this, hopefully you can see how they need to be conformed to God’s will as expressed in His word?  Don’t reject the will of God, for your own childish feelings.  Bring your feelings into obedience to God.  You can do it with His help.  It will be a blessing to you and to all of the people you come in contact with.  God’s will is always better.  So next time you are feeling your way through life ask yourself if those feelings are sinful or are they in obedience to God?

Book Reviews · cultural · gender disphoria · God · marriage · Theology · transexual · transgender · Uncategorized

Dr. R. Albert Mohler’s new book, “We Cannot Be Silent.” is a must read for Christians trying to make sense of all the gender chaos going on around us.

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cannotbesilent
If you have been a regular listener of, “The Briefing” you’ll find Dr. Mohler’s newest book to be quite familiar, as he has addressed much of the subject matter on his program.  The book offers a fuller fleshing out of the history, and circumstances, that have lead to our current state, as well as a Christian analysis of it.

The chapter titles in the table of contents paint the picture of what you’ll read in the book;

1 In the Wake of a Revolution

2 It Didn’t Start with Same-Sex Marriage

3 From Vice to Virtue: How Did the Homosexual Movement Happen?

4 The Impossible, Possibility of Same-Sex Marriage

5 The Transgender Revolution

6 The End of Marriage

7 What Does the Bible Really Have to Say About Sex?

8 Religious Liberty and the Right to Be Christian

9 The Compassion of Truth: The Church and the Challenge of the Sexual Revolution

10 The Hard Questions

 

Dr. Mohler takes you step by step, setting the scene with historical information, about how the foundation for this revolution was put in place, so that in the right environment of postmodernism it could explode.  follow along step by step, to see how the plan of the enemy has been unfolding for decades.  Dr. Mohler cites the work of opponents, and proponents to Christian values effectively, and fairly in this book.  He uses their own words in thorough quotations from their published works.  You can trace a line from no-fault divorce, birth control, abortion, and now all of the gender issues.  As we deal with the consequences of these doctrines of death culture, Dr. Mohler educate and offers a Biblical analysis. He explains what these changes in our culture will mean for us as a nation, and for Christians.  

Dr. Mohler also explains what the Church’s response should be in light of our past failures to inform culture.  Bad theology, watered down truths, attractional models, moralism, and pragmatism have all gotten us where we are at today.  Real love, tells the truth.  We have to proclaim the truths of the Bible to the lost.  The things that seem difficult are often what are necessary.  The gospel is the only hope for the people of this nation.  Chapter 10 offers valuable Biblical responses to questions that are already being asked.  If you haven’t given these issues much thought and would like to, or if you are a bit confused and don’t know how we got to where we are today, I would recommend reading this book and referring back to it from time to time.

forgiveness · love · marriage · Uncategorized

Is there a heart so broken, soul so wounded, two hearts in a marriage so hurt, or scars so thick that God, the Creator of all things, cannot heal them?

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

Yesterday I posted a piece about toxic relationships being a new age cop out.  It came to my attention that perhaps I didn’t stress the power of God enough.  People can feel extremely hurt and justified in maintaining their anger and resentment.  They can harden their hearts and sear their conscience, so that they no longer feel conviction when the Holy Spirit brings to mind all of their complicity.  We know from God’s word that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We also know that none are righteous.  

For the person who is deeply hurt, this information doesn’t seem to help them, but it is the only information that will help them.  They have to see their own sin and see how much in need they are of God’s grace, mercy, and love.  When they can see their need, and it moves them to repent and believe in the work of Christ, then they can see the other person, and how weak and needy they are.  When you can look at someone who has wronged you, hurt you, scarred you, and then see how you have done the same thing to Christ, and yet know that He has forgiven you, given you grace, mercy, and love, in light of what you know you justly deserve, you can then love the other person in like fashion.

God, who created everything, things known and unknown by us, the seed from which a redwood grows, the highest majestic mountains, to the lowest, deep cut valleys, to the blue sky where winged birds fly, and beyond to the vast reaches of space where we lose ourselves in contemplation of our smallness, this very God who knows everything about us, He is all powerful, and to think that He cannot change your heart?  What hope is there if a sinner’s heart cannot be changed?  Therefore, there is no wound so great that the saving balm of the gospel cannot use it for the glory of God.

marriage · Uncategorized

Toxic People, Toxic Relationships, a New Age Cop out.

Bob Snyder5 Comments

toxic relationship
How many times have you heard from one of your married friends who is being left by their spouse, “We were just toxic together.”  Probably as many times as you’ve heard, “He/She was just toxic for me.”  People complain, “I’m just not happy.  I deserve to be happy.”  So many of my friends, as of late, have had these things said to them. Usually followed by, “I don’t love you anymore.”  For good measure they might even throw in a, “You are controlling, and abusive. I never loved you.”  These are some of the most selfish, and injurious accusations I’ve heard.  These are also very sinful, and rebellious.  They are definitely not Christian sentiments.  I believe they are selfish, and used as a cop out.  It is the lie they tell themselves, and others, to not put in the hard, sanctifying, and gospel exemplifying, work that is needed for a life-long covenant between them and God.  

I’d expect to hear this vitriol coming from the lost, but we often hear it coming from professing Christians.  I’ve even seen several articles on supposedly Christian websites that advocate divorcing a toxic person.  Have they forgotten that everyone is a, “toxic person?”  Have they forgotten the power of the gospel?  Have they forgotten that God hates divorce?  If they are saved, and acting/feeling like this then, they are in rebellion, and will be disciplined by God.  If they are false converts, they will receive their just punishment in Hell, where God will be just, and right to pour out His wrath on them, for all eternity.   

Of course you are in a toxic relationship.  You are a toxic sinner.  Of course your spouse is toxic.  They are a sinner.  When you put two sinners together in a room they are going to sin.  They are going to be selfish, prideful, arrogant, idolatrous, and petty.  Of course you aren’t happy.  You are expecting another person to make you happy.  Guess what…  a sinful person will always let you down.  You will never be fulfilled by another human being.  You can only find the contentment you are looking for in Jesus, and His gospel of grace.

Oh, and here is another big shocker, regardless of what you’ve heard, you don’t deserve to be happy!  You are a sinner, like everyone else.  God is perfectly just, holy, righteous, and good.  You have broken His laws, and are a guilty sinner.  You, and I deserve to be punished.  We don’t deserve to be happy.  You, and I deserve to be killed by God, and be sent to Hell for eternity, just like everyone else on the planet.  You see, it is a sin problem, not a relationship problem.  The only way it was a relationship problem is that as sinners we were enemies of God.  If we want peace with Him, we must repent, and believe in the work of Christ on the cross, to justify us with God.

We read all of the New Age drivel on websites, blogs, and social media.  We listen to podcasts, and self-help gurus on the radio.  It validates, and justifies, the selfish, idolatrous, sinful, thoughts.  Why do people consume these things?  I know why I am here.  I am here to combat the darkness that has been enslaving people, and ruining marriages, children, and families, for far too long in this country.  Why are you here?  Are you here to flirt with the darkness?  Do you want to hear something that will give you permission to give up, and give in to sin?  Are you being tempted by the New Age malarkey?  Are you setting up false teachers to tickle your ears?  Wake up!  We need to stop behaving like selfish children, and truly understand what this means, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Do you think you are something special?  Do you think you deserved His love?  If it weren’t for His grace, we’d all be lost.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am not telling someone who is getting physically abused to stay in the home.  If you are getting physically abused you should be separated.  “Separated” does no mean, “Oh goody, time to commit adultery.”  Being separated for a time can be necessary, but it is always supposed to be temporary.  If your spouse has committed adultery, you may divorce them, but it isn’t the optimal expression of a mature believer’s grace.  If your spouse is an unbeliever, and walks out on you, you may divorce.  If you really understand grace, even though you may divorce them, if they are repentant, you will forgive them, and give grace to them, just like the way Christ gave grace to you, instead of what you deserve.

I don’t agree with the modern definition of psychological abuse.  Pretty much any difficult thing you talk about with a person can be deemed abusive anymore.  Obviously if you are a Christian you should not hurt your spouse emotionally.  You should not intentionally, or maliciously hurt their feelings.  It is sinful to do so.  Your sin does not justify a divorce unless it fits the criteria mentioned above.  Christ endured our scorn, and ridicule while on the cross, dying for a bunch of sinners.  Do we think we deserve better than Christ?

We all want the romantic fairy tale marriage.  We all want to feel loved.  Some people are living the dream, but it might not have always been that way for them.  How do you think they got there?  It wasn’t by giving in, and giving up that is for certain.  They had to fight against their own sin, and forgive the other’s sins, while loving God more than anyone, or anything else.  They had to trust, and obey God, not their ever-changing emotions.  If you give up you miss out on the sanctification that God has planned for you.  If you give up, you’ll just take your sin problems with you to another sinner, and find some other reason to leave them.  You’ll never deal with the real problems as long as you use the cop out excuse of, “They were just toxic, it was a toxic relationship.”

Our only hope in marriage is Jesus Christ.  Our only hope in life, and death is Jesus Christ.  If we have been saved from our sins by Christ, then we are obliged to demonstrate the same type of sacrificial love for our spouse.  We love them without any expectations of return on our investment.  We love them because Christ loves us.  Our sins put Christ on the cross.  It is as if we had the hammer, and nails in our hands, and put Him up there ourselves.  He died for us, knowing that we hated Him.  He got nothing worth having in saving us.  By God’s sanctifying work, the Holy Spirit conforms us to the will, and word of God, to be Christlike to the world, including our spouse.  We love them even though they don’t deserve it.  We demonstrate grace to them, when they don’t deserve it.  Marriage is a covenant with God, you, and your spouse, for the rest of your life.  It is a picture of the gospel, to be lived out in front of the world.  The husband is the head of the wife, the way that Christ is the head of the Church.  Christ died to save the Church, His bride.  The wife is the representation of the Church, submitting to the Bridegroom who saved her for Himself.  So love one another sacrificially, and stop all of this selfish carnal nonsense.  Obey God, and glorify Him in your marriage.

marriage · Movie Review · Uncategorized

I Finally Watched the Movie, “Fireproof 2” Woops, I Meant, “War Room” and I’m Left Wondering, What Was all the Fuss About?

Bob Snyder7 Comments

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I know this is old news, so I won’t spend a bunch of time on this. I finally got around to watching the movie, “War Room.” It really did make me think that I liked it better when it was called, “Fireproof.” So many people were telling me how great it was and still others were voicing concerns. I didn’t want to waste my money on a bad movie so I waited for it to go to rental. I watched it mostly by myself. My Wife and Daughter would watch here and there. As I was watching it I became aware of a couple of scenes with really bad theology. However, I kind of expected it from Christian movies these days.
There was a scene where the main character is fed up with her life and prays out loud to the devil and then commands him to leave her house and go to Hell, in the name of Jesus. First, don’t pray to the devil, don’t talk with the devil, and don’t rebuke the devil. Even the angels say, “The Lord rebuke you.” Second, the devil doesn’t live in hell and he is not from hell. He is on the Earth and won’t be in Hell until he is sent there by God.
The other scene that was laughable was when a mugger confronted the older lady and the younger lady and attempted to rob them at knife point. The older lady commanded the thug to drop his knife in the name of Jesus… and guess what… He did. I had to laugh, but it also made me a bit angry. What if someone actually tried that? Disregard all of the Pentecostal mythology surrounding this type of thing. Honestly, it is not the way to handle that situation. Let’s see… Did it help the early Church Fathers when they were being martyred? Did it stop the Romans from using Christians as torches to light the streets? Does it help the Christians being martyred by the Muslims today?
The biggest problem I had with the movie is one that my 15 year old Daughter picked up on just from watching a little bit of the movie. She said something to the effect of, “Is this one of those Christian movies where everyone gets saved and their problems all go away?” The sad thing is that she was correct. This movie forwarded the, “life enhancement gospel.” This is a false gospel that goes like this, “Become a Christian, and God will make your life better.” This can be very damaging to immature Christians. This movie would have been so much better if the husband would have went to prison after repenting. The husband ends up repenting. He then takes responsibility for getting fired from his job as a pharmaceutical sales representative. He also admits to his bosses about stealing pharmaceuticals from the company. One of the bosses wants to have him prosecuted. Of course, because he comes clean and gives back what he stole they forgive him and then he gets a great new job closer to home. God makes everything better and life is peachy keen again…
What if he would have done all of the good things like repenting, returning what he stole, and he still ended up going to prison? They could have shown her praying for him and waiting for him to get out. They could have showed him accepting the difficult things as part of God’s will. If a person decides to become Christian for a better life, they are missing the point. We should become Christians because we sorrow over our sins and love Christ for His sacrificial work on the cross to atone for our sins.

marriage · roman catholicism

Why can’t they marry? The Bible says they should be able to.

Bob Snyder1 Comment

Ever wonder why the Roman Catholic Church disregards the Bible and refuses to allow their priests to marry?  In light of (1 Corinthians 9:3-5 NASB) “(3) My defense to those who examine me is this: (4) Do we not have a right to eat and drink? (5) Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”  and (1 Timothy 3:1-4 NASB) “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. (2) An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, (3) not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. (4) He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity” as well as, (1 Timothy 3:12-13 NASB) “Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households. (13) For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”  It seems pretty clear that marriage is the normative for the leadership of the Church.  Not only does it make sense that way, but it also displays the gospel for everyone to see in the Husband and Wife relationship.  Even God incarnate, Jesus Christ quoted His own word by referring to Genesis 2:24 in (Matthew 19:1-5 NASB) When Jesus had finished these words, He departed from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan; (2) and large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there. (3) Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” (4) And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, (5) and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’?”  It seems to me that marriage is a good thing and prescribed in the Bible for men and women.  Perhaps the Roman Catholic Church just likes to make up their own doctrines and disregard the Bible?  Just saying…

Church · cultural · marriage

Kim Davis and Religious Liberty.

Bob Snyder1 Comment

Listen, I’m no Kim Davis fan.  Now don’t get your dander up just yet.  I didn’t say that I agreed with the judge and liberals either.  Yes, I would have a problem with a muslim woman demanding her religious liberty to do or not do, “x” in the workplace.  No, I don’t agree with what they are doing to Kim Davis.  This boils down to Americans deciding which god they are going to believe in or at least make the central one of their society.  Things are coming to a head.  People can’t be on the fence anymore.  With the death culture winning lost unregenerate hearts left and right, it is going to get worse, not better.  Abortion, divorce, euthanasia, and gay marriage, all lead to human decline not human flourishing.  It glorifies God for us to flourish and spread His image bearers around the creation.

The left would have everyone believe that we should treat all religions the same under the constitution.  They have used this artifice for a while now and got many of us to buy in, for the sake of our own religious liberty.  Our country was never intended to be anything other than a country of Christians.  The intent of religious liberty was for us to be free from a monarch declaring whether we  would be Catholic, Protestant, or Anglican. (more or less)  We would be able to decide for ourselves what religion we wanted to be.  Now what did our founding fathers understand those options to be?  Did they consider satanism a religion?  Or how about hinduism?  The short answer is a resounding NO!  They considered them to be cults, or pagan.  They never thought or intended for those to be options for their descendants.  They understood that only the Christian faith was a true religion and when they thought about liberty in the Christian faith it was Christian liberty to choose the things not specifically mentioned in scripture, for instance you could believe in the credo-baptism like an anabaptist Puritan, or you could be a paedo-baptist like the Presbyterian.  You could be a Methodist even…  I guess…  I don’t know why you would want to?  Just a joke my Arminian brothers.  The point is religious liberty has been being misused and  misapplied for several decades now and we are reaping the fruit.

So Kim Davis is the latest adult victim of the death culture.  Sure millions of babies have been killed and millions of marriages dissolved, and millions of children have grown up in single parent homes, but don’t let that bother you.  Keep on harping about Kim Davis.  I hope she is what it takes to wake up the religious right in our country.  I hope that this outrage will focus us all together to finally recognize what the founding fathers intended and to stop being fooled, bamboozled, and confused by the satanic left.  We need to wake up and declare this country to be a Christian country, one of Christianity as the main and central faith, even if you aren’t a Christian there is no denying that Christianity equals human flourishing, scientific discovery, medical progress, inspiring art and architecture.  Wherever Christianity has been, humans have flourished.  When it is booted out the cultures sometimes die slowly like in Europe, or they go under in a fast violent overthrow like in the islamic states.  So recognize that the only reason America has been great is God, and without the God of the Bible we will fall.  As always, repent of your sins, believe in the justifying work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and follow Him.

If your spouse, or children agree with you all of the time, and that is why you love them, then you don’t love them. You love your beliefs.
Apologetics · marriage · Theology

If your spouse, or children agree with you all of the time, and that is why you love them, then you don’t love them. You love your beliefs.

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welove-christian-graphics1

If your spouse, or children agree with you all of the time, and that is why you love them, then you don’t love them. You love your beliefs.
I saw this sentiment on fb last night. It got me thinking. How many of us predicate our love for others based on what they believe? I find myself only wanting to associate with people who believe the same as I do. It is easier. There are less arguments and troubles. I guess that is why God is clear in His word that we should as believers only marry other believers. Inside Christianity there are divergent beliefs, that aren’t necessarily unorthodox. We disagree about eschatology, freewill, complimentarianism vs. egalitarianism and so on. If you find yourself not loving a person because they don’t agree with you down the line, I would say that you have a big problem. You do only love your beliefs and not the people God has brought into your life. If beliefs don’t matter in regards to how you love someone, then your love begins to look more like the converting love of God. God loves the unregenerate sinner whom He has sovereignly elected, not on the basis of what they believe about Him, but according to His will. He changes their beliefs out of His love for them. He makes them able to believe in Him. When we love our children, we need to realize that they are not little clones of us. They will develop their own beliefs and ideas. We can’t stop loving them when they stop agreeing with us. Most parents will understand this and agree. Others will not. Our spouses one day might express a sentiment that catches us off guard. We might even wonder if they are the same person we have been married to for all of those years. Don’t let that stop you from loving them. Your love is not for their beliefs, it is supposed to be from the excess of God’s love, that you love others. Love them not on their merit, but because God has commanded it and it is who you are now. Love as fully, selflessly, and cheerfully as you possibly can. Of course beliefs matter. They matter in many different ways. If we believe incorrectly about who Jesus was then we are not saved. I’m not saying beliefs don’t matter. I am saying they shouldn’t be why you love your kids, spouse, or others. Love doesn’t mean giving up your beliefs. Love doesn’t mean you have to agree with them. Love will compel you to share your heart for the truth as you know it. You will lovingly share the truth with them. They can agree or disagree, but we still need to love them, not their beliefs.