Mooreover / Blog

Our bible study group is currently dissecting a book called “Monday Morning Church” by Jerry Cook. It actually has a lot of progressive (controversial) ideas in it (such as it’s not our job to convert people to Christianity - rebutting the idea that our spiritual value should be assessed by the amount of times we’ve helped others recite the sinner’s prayer).

Another thought that made me pause was this: “Married people may be shocked to hear this: you are not your spouse’s Holy Spirit. You can’t “help along” the spiritual growth of your mate. Whenever I tried to work on my wife, she always had to recover from it, and God had to repair it. Time and time again God said, ‘Would you please keep your hands off what I’m trying to do? You don’t have a clue what’s going on here. Enjoy my masterpiece, but leave it alone.’ It’s amazing how much better our marriage is, now that I’ve stopped tweaking God’s work. [My wife] is his workmanship, his masterpiece, not mine.”

Thankfully this is a concept that Kami and I learned long ago. It was more of a reaction to the inneffectiveness of nagging than an acknowledgement of God’s ability to work on each other without our interference. It’s an amazingly simple idea that can be almost impossible for us to employ, since it requires us to relinquish control and simply allow God to do his work.

We’ve had a lot of friends struggle with their marriage, and it’s amazing how much could be gained by letting go. It’s proven much more effective than the “pot calling the kettle black” ministry that so many Christians resort to.

Any way, that’s my “simple thought that could change a life” for the day. Thanks to Jerry Cook for sharing it.