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2) Inner Fulfillment
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| The two choices |
| The choice of fulfillment |
| Problems of fulfillment |
| Sources of fulfillment |
| Questions of Fulfillment |
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Overcoming lusts
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THE CHOICE OF FULFILLMENT
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Fulfillment in relationship
When we think of love, we often forget about the two sides involved, that is, the relationship. There is both the lover and the loved. The husband initiates love into the relationship. The wife responds to this unconditional love. This is the way God designed it from the beginning. This does not mean the wife does not need to love. We have discussed this before. We are speaking about the special opportunity wives have in responding to their husband's love. |
Fulfillment in his love
It is ironic. There is perhaps no greater hope among women than a husband that lavishly loves her only. The hope is love for love sake – unconditional love. But our society confuses this by conveying to women that the only way to show herself valuable is to make money with a man-sized job. What odd responses I find when I tell people what my daughter plans on doing with her life. I answer she wants to find a great husband and raise a large family. The wife does not need to earn her value. She is valued by the very fact a man, her husband, has without qualification bound himself to care for her. |
Fulfillment by a growing trust
The special life truth shown here is seen in the growing trust in the wife of the husband's love. The wife's fears are to be put aside one by one as trust in her husband increases. Her ability to respond to him is dependent upon her trust in him. Trust enables special growth to occur within that relationship.
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Fulfillment and fear
Love cannot be perfected as long as fear is present. Each difficult situation between the husband and wife become an arena for the wife to see whether she can really trust him. Because of our imperfect love, we see that it might take a while to convince our wives that we really do love them without reserve. Of course, if she sees that you are interested in other women, then she has no real trust in your care for her. She is cautious. The elderly church leader John says this about love and fear.
"There is no fear in love;
but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear involves punishment,
and the one who fears is not perfected in love."
(1 John 4:18, NASB).
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Fulfillment by God's love
Perhaps it would be good to see this situation from God's perspective. God created the world and mankind to display His love. Man was asked to trust and respond to Him. The purpose of this love was for the world to bloom in response to His good love. However, man failed miserably. He listened to the serpent and because of the seed of distrust, ate the fruit in disobedience. God targeted His love toward man but man rejected God's love. Man no longer was fulfilled by the broken relationship with God. Mankind looked elsewhere to be filled.
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