It’s scary to know we must own our actions! No matter how you may feel your husband drives you to your poor actions and reactions, you play a significant role in many of the negative interactions that take place within the home.
Let’s review 1 Peter 2:12 and 3:1, NKJV:
Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.
These Scriptures show us how powerful we are. We are creatures of influence. We don’t even have to use words to influence, but our actions can yield positive results.
Proverbs 14:1b says a foolish woman tears her home down with her own hands. At first, she set out to build her home, but somewhere along the way she began to take it down one brick at a time. I imagine that when she was first married, she was likely determined to not be like her mother. She watched how poorly her mother treated her father and vowed to never be like that. She took the teachings from church and applied them, but then she grew weary. She has been doing all the right things — at least she thinks so — and doesn’t see any change. She has been rising early to pray and stand in the gap for her home, but things don’t seem to be changing much, and she has grown frustrated. Now she is beginning to unknowingly tear down her home with her own hands.
I believe the phrase “her own hands” refers to her actions. It is our actions, both verbal and non-verbal, that we use to tear down our homes. We are creatures of influence, and our actions will either build our homes or place a time bomb under them.
If we look to God and let His Holy Spirit work within us, He can make us wise women who build up, instead of mess up, our marriages.
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To read more from Fiona Arthurs, check out her new book, “Stop the Foolishness for Wives,” available HERE.
