Diluted

Diluted -

"Will he find delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon Godat all times? "I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal. You have all seen this yourselves. Why then this meaningless talk?" Job 27:10-12 Charlyne tries to keep a jug of iced tea in our refrigerator. By the end of the week, when the tea is almost gone, water can be added to increase what is in the jug. Just before grocery day, more water may be added. The jug's contents still look like iced tea, but it does not taste like true iced tea, because it's primarily water.


Much like our iced tea, have you diluted your stand for marriage restoration God's way with other things, until what remains today looks like a stand, but the power is diluted? To be honest, diluting God's way of handling marriage problems with the world's way is more like mixing oil and water than mixing water and iced tea. It makes a mess. Charlyne and I are well aware how tempting and easy it is for the best of standers to dilute their stands. Jack and Jill separated after Jack fell into sin. Someone introduced Jill to Jesus. Soon she had a growing relationship with her Savior. Things were happening in Jack's life, both seen and unseen, as Jill prayed and read God's Word. She saw her small prayers being answered.


Jill had promise after promise, from God's Word, that He would heal their marriage. She was keeping a journal and listening to audio teaching. Praise music filled her home 24 hours a day. Yes, Jill had her moments of tears, but even greater, she felt the presence of the Holy Spirit surrounding her, protecting her and guiding her. Then one day Jack, not living at home, pulled a big one. No one should have to put up with stuff like that! As was her custom, Jill took it before the Lord in prayer. She waited and waited, but God seemed not to answer her repeated pleas to Him.



Being a young Christian, Jill wanted instant results and she was not receiving them. Jill returned to the computer and searched for "Stop Divorce." There was no need to ask God, nor Jesus, nor Holy Spirit, because Jill thought in error that they had failed her. She clicked on a site that "promised" to help get her Jack home. They even boasted about their high success rate. Jill had just opened the tap that was about to dilute her stand with God for marriage restoration. In the following days, Jill explored more sites from that list. She even discovered sites where she could share with the world what Jack had done. Soon people around the world were offering their advice. Soon the advice of people became louder to Jill than the voice of God. In fact, the time Jill once spent in the Bible and in prayer were replaced with chat rooms and bulletin boards.



Yes, some of the replies were crude, and a few even mentioned God, but her new friends answered so much quicker than God. In time, Jill wrote the marriage ministry that had helped her so much in the beginning, lamenting how God had failed her and how she was giving up her stand. She could not tell God directly, because she no longer talked with Him, nor did she wait for His Word. Why read an outdated Bible when people online had already read it, and seemed to have all the answers? God seemed a far off stranger, when her friends with online advice were always there. Before long, Jill's conversations online sounded more like the "Before Christ" Jill than the "Redeemed" Jill. If you have been where Jill is right now, you might know the rest of the story. When Jack found a counterfeit replacement for Jill, she privately gave up on marriage restoration. To her friends, she was still a stander, but by now, to Jill "standing" meant, "If Jack ever wanders home, and if he meets my conditions, I might consider allowing him to come back." Jill gave little thought to Jack's eternal destiny, or to their one-flesh marriage.



By the time Jack, like the prodigal son, "came to his senses," Jill no longer wanted him home. After all, she had her standing friends, both male and female. Jill raised the bar to Jack's coming back in the front door higher that Jack could jump, so she retained the title of "Stander." She had a heart knowledge of standing for marriage restoration, but her heart knowledge had been diluted by dabbling in the world's ways until it was useless. What did God think? As an aside, the bar across our front door prohibiting me from coming home was always low. It was so low that some misunderstanding people called my wife a "doormat." In truth, Charlyne was just being like Jesus.



He loved me so much that He went to the cross and died for me. Imagine, the Man without sin, dying to pay for the sin I committed, yet He did not have a high bar for me to receive His gift of eternal life. He said simply, "Come unto me." My wife said simply, "Come home." She trusted God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to convict me of the wrong I was doing, and to make changes, as the Holy Spirit worked in my life. Know what? Her ways (like His ways) work! Jack and Jill's story has a happy, but painful ending. Others continued to pray for both Jack and Jill. Each went through many a heartache, but God had not given up. There came a day when the Holy Spirit touched a prodigal Jack, and by now, a nearly-prodigal Jill, and set marriage restoration into motion for one more couple.



How did it all start? By Jill slightly diluting her stand with God with the things of the world. Once that spigot of the world is opened, it flows more and more. How did it all end? By a movement of the Holy Spirit of God in Jack and Jill's lives, because people were praying, regardless of what they saw happening. Charlyne and I pray that your stand is 100% pure. If you have diluted your stand, little or much, or if your hand is near the spigot, the Lord is waiting for you to fully come back to Him. As the hymn writer of yesteryear wrote, "His blood can cleanse your heart and make you free.



His love can fill your soul, and you will see, 'twas best for Him to have His way with thee." "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." I John 1:5-6


GOD BLESS