Winning Him Without Words: 10 Keys to Thriving in Your Spiritually Mismatched Marriage by Lynn Donovan, Dineen Miller Page A
Authors: Lynn Donovan, Dineen Miller
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weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me
.
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9
A Fine Linen Belt
In Jeremiah 13:1, God told Jeremiah to purchase a linen belt and tie it around his waist. Jeremiah did as God had instructed. Then God spoke a second time and told Jeremiah to bury the belt in a crevice (see v. 4). Many days later, Jeremiah unearthed the belt at God’s direction and found it “ruined and completely useless” (v. 7). God used this illustration to show Jeremiah what Judah and Israel had become in their idolatry—“useless.”
As I read this chapter in Jeremiah, I sensed the Holy Spirit saying to me, “Stop and pay attention.” Throughout the Bible, we usually see linen used in association with Christ and His priesthood, going all the way back to Exodus and Aaron. Revelation 19:8 says that “fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.”
Isn’t it like God to use a metaphor to reflect His meaning on so many levels? Judah and Israel had lost their righteousness because of their pride, wickedness and stubbornness. They became as broken, tattered and “useless” as that linen belt.
God further expounds upon the meaning of the belt in Jeremiah 13:11:
“For as a belt is bound around a man’s waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,” declares the L ORD , “to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.”
See how the past tense is used when God says He “bound” the houses of Israel and Judah? God had already tied that belt, binding the two houses to Himself. Then, at the end, He switched to the present perfect tense: “But they have not listened to me.” Starting in the past and continuing into the present, Judah’s and Israel’s unrighteousness had disintegrated the belt binding them to God.
Then I asked God to connect the dots for me—how did this relate to being unequally yoked? He gave me a picture of how the believing spouse can be that linen belt, a representation of righteousness (God’s, not ours), binding the marriage to God. Yet if we hide our faith, the belt disintegrates and becomes useless.
Now I’m not saying we should beat our husbands over the head with Scripture or get preachy. Remember, the reference in Revelation referred to “righteous acts.” I believe this described who they had become through the changing power of Christ. They simply lived as Christ called them to, letting their light shine before men (and women).
If you’re like me, you’ve learned that pushing the gospel on someone unwilling to hear it is ineffective, but nothing canstop us from being a living representation of Christ in our homes each and every day. That doesn’t mean being perfect. It means being authentic. What greater witness is there than a life changed and redeemed?
How is that most effective? Not by words but by acts!
We are called to be that linen belt in our day-to-day lives, but burying it will only make us ineffective, which is what the enemy desires most since he can’t take away our salvation. We may not have the freedom to voice our religious beliefs in our homes, but we can live boldly as a saint through our actions, through the peace of knowing that Christ suffers with us and through the knowledge that God wants our loved one to know His Son even more than we do.
We can be that fine linen belt, unbroken and unblemished, strengthened and purified by the very God we love—and by the great intercession of our Savior, Jesus.
A Confession
Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives
.
1 PETER 3:1-2
One night, I went out to dinner with my husband. As I was sitting there, I suddenly had this deep desire to confess something that had happened earlier in the day,
.
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9
A Fine Linen Belt
In Jeremiah 13:1, God told Jeremiah to purchase a linen belt and tie it around his waist. Jeremiah did as God had instructed. Then God spoke a second time and told Jeremiah to bury the belt in a crevice (see v. 4). Many days later, Jeremiah unearthed the belt at God’s direction and found it “ruined and completely useless” (v. 7). God used this illustration to show Jeremiah what Judah and Israel had become in their idolatry—“useless.”
As I read this chapter in Jeremiah, I sensed the Holy Spirit saying to me, “Stop and pay attention.” Throughout the Bible, we usually see linen used in association with Christ and His priesthood, going all the way back to Exodus and Aaron. Revelation 19:8 says that “fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.”
Isn’t it like God to use a metaphor to reflect His meaning on so many levels? Judah and Israel had lost their righteousness because of their pride, wickedness and stubbornness. They became as broken, tattered and “useless” as that linen belt.
God further expounds upon the meaning of the belt in Jeremiah 13:11:
“For as a belt is bound around a man’s waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,” declares the L ORD , “to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.”
See how the past tense is used when God says He “bound” the houses of Israel and Judah? God had already tied that belt, binding the two houses to Himself. Then, at the end, He switched to the present perfect tense: “But they have not listened to me.” Starting in the past and continuing into the present, Judah’s and Israel’s unrighteousness had disintegrated the belt binding them to God.
Then I asked God to connect the dots for me—how did this relate to being unequally yoked? He gave me a picture of how the believing spouse can be that linen belt, a representation of righteousness (God’s, not ours), binding the marriage to God. Yet if we hide our faith, the belt disintegrates and becomes useless.
Now I’m not saying we should beat our husbands over the head with Scripture or get preachy. Remember, the reference in Revelation referred to “righteous acts.” I believe this described who they had become through the changing power of Christ. They simply lived as Christ called them to, letting their light shine before men (and women).
If you’re like me, you’ve learned that pushing the gospel on someone unwilling to hear it is ineffective, but nothing canstop us from being a living representation of Christ in our homes each and every day. That doesn’t mean being perfect. It means being authentic. What greater witness is there than a life changed and redeemed?
How is that most effective? Not by words but by acts!
We are called to be that linen belt in our day-to-day lives, but burying it will only make us ineffective, which is what the enemy desires most since he can’t take away our salvation. We may not have the freedom to voice our religious beliefs in our homes, but we can live boldly as a saint through our actions, through the peace of knowing that Christ suffers with us and through the knowledge that God wants our loved one to know His Son even more than we do.
We can be that fine linen belt, unbroken and unblemished, strengthened and purified by the very God we love—and by the great intercession of our Savior, Jesus.
A Confession
Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives
.
1 PETER 3:1-2
One night, I went out to dinner with my husband. As I was sitting there, I suddenly had this deep desire to confess something that had happened earlier in the day,
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