“She will comfort, encourage and do Him only good as long as thereis life within her.” Proverbs 31:12 Amplified Version
Number 6 in the series “God’s Virtuous Woman

Good in the Hebrew means: “to please; to do one’s best; to be cheerful and gracious; to be joyful, kind, loving and pleasant.” How long must I do this? Since Malachi 2:16 tells us that God hates divorce, we are to do this for as long as we live. All God asks and helps us to do is to treat our mate the same way He treats us. You may be thinking, “But what if my mate is an unbeliever or does not love and treat me right?” God does not hold us responsible for our mate’s life, He only holds us responsible for our own.

As a new believer in Christ with aneight-year-old marriage destroyed and on the brink of divorce, I chose to take my eyes off of my husband, Richard, and to put them onto Jesus. I chose to place myself under the authority of God and His Word and to allow Him to change me and to make me into a virtuous woman.

When I got over the shock of seeing myself-righteous pride, I saw that all the problems in my marriage were not my husband’s. God needed to change me, and I needed a lot of help. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I chose to apply Ephesians 5:33 (Amp.) which reads, “However, let every man of you (without exception) love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband–that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him and loves and admires him exceedingly.”

Right now, your emotions may be screaming, “Lady, you don’t know my mate!” You are right, I don’t know your mate. But this was not my idea. This is God’s Word. He said it. These are fighting words to the feminist. You may be thinking, “This is not fair, look at the way my mate is living.” You’re right again, it’s not fair. But I don’t want what is fair. It was not fair that Jesus Christ loved and died for us while we were His enemies, or that He forgave our sins or that He rose again to give us new life in Him. It is not fair that He daily loves us and treats us so well when we give Him so little time and attention, and daily sin in thought and deed.

Jesus’ own words in Matthew 5:43-44(KJV) read, “You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemy, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who despitefully use you, and persecute you.” This is what Jesus did for each of us on the cross. This is how He loves us and treats us daily.

God’s amazing grace empowered me to apply these scriptures and to apply all of God’s Word. It has changed my life and my marriage. You can have the same if you are willing to humble yourself and get under the authority of God’s Word.

— Janice McBride