National Marriage Week Challenge: Day 4 (2/10/2014)

“Tell me something good.  Tell me that you love me, yeah” — Stevie Wonder

Jesus warned us about name-calling:

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:21-22).

Sometimes we get hung up on the particular names Jesus used here.  Raca?  Clear.  Never called my spouse that.  Fool? I better watch that one.  It could slip out.

But don’t get hung up on the words.  That’ s what the Pharisees would have done as Jesus taught them.  Just as they concluded that the sin was completely in the murderous act, so we think that the sin is completely in the names we use.  Jesus told them that the sin begins in the heart long before a weapon is drawn.  Same with the name-calling.  The dagger effect because of the anger in our hearts slays others – and it hurts us because Jesus says it’s wrong.

So, lets get ahead of the game.  The challenge for day 4 of National Marriage Week is to name-call in a positive way!  Write your spouse a note today using every positive pet name, term of endearment, and complimentary adjective that you can come up with.  Count the words and comment with how many you used for your baby, sweetheart, sweetcheeks, loverboy, studmuffin, etc.

Have fun with it!

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