Beyond Mediocrity Blog

(Image courtesy of https://fthmb.tqn.com.) "'Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior....  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her....'" (Ephesians 5:22-23, 25).  "'Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you'" (Genesis 3:16b). I remember a few weeks before my wife and I were married thinking to myself, "I have no idea what being a godly husband looks like."  I was scared of what awaited me.  I knew that I was stepping into big shoes, yet I had no idea how to fill them, much less walk in them.

(Image courtesy of http://popmn.org.) "[A]nd may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.  Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.  For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.  For this is the will of God, your sanctification : that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.  For God has not called us for im...

(Image courtesy of https://www.wikihow.com.) "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:1-5). This morning I went for a run.  The air was crisp and the new sun was casting its beautiful, colorful rays upon the horizon.  When I came to the end of my run, I walked a little bit to catch my breath.  I literally thought I was going to die.  My eyes were growing cloudy, my chest felt like an elephant...