I AM BARABBAS

It was a bad Friday for the disciples because their leader was killed.

Oh it was a bad Friday for Mary, the mother of Jesus to watch her son crucified on the cross…with so much pain…

It was a bad Friday for Jesus’s followers and friends, those he healed, saved, fed and taught. Am sure it was a bad Friday for those children that sat at Jesus’ feet to hear about the kingdom of God. “How could someone so good and innocent die this way?”….

But it was a good Friday for Barabbas, a prisoner and a murderer, because the people wanted him released, even the chief priest and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas instead of Jesus… And there was a switch, Jesus died and Barabbas was set free, Just as the crowd chose Barabbas to be free, God chose me to be free…

And there was a switch, Jesus died and I was set free, Indeed I am Barabbas and it is a good Friday for me.

I learned this lesson early in marriage, no matter how much I try to fake my attitude, it just won’t work, I started feeling like I was not myself in my marriage. The truth is, marriage should be a place where YOU can be YOU, recognizing your weakness and trying to be a better person. In a marriage relationship, not only will you get to know your spouse better, you also get to know yourself better, your weaknesses, strengths, attitudes and disposition to things. You might think you have a perfect personality, wait until you get married and your weaknesses stares at you in the face.

In a good marriage relationship, you should be able to express yourself to your spouse and vice versa. In expressing ourselves, our weaknesses will come to play, how you or your spouse use that information is now the most important thing. This self discovery in marriage should push us to be better persons and to work on each other’s shortcomings together, not to excuse it by saying ”well, that’s who I am” who says?. God created marriage to make us more like him, doing away with all those old habits and becoming a new person in Christ. Yes, it is good to be yourself in a marriage relationship, but be ready and open to change, no, I call it growth. So you are still yourself, but you are growing together with your spouse in Christ.

This has been on my mind for days now and I just felt it was time to put pen to paper, especially after listening to Myles Munroe on the role of men. I have always esteemed the role of men, especially in a home and in the life of his wife, and now in marriage, I have come to appreciate it even more.

One of the first responsibility God gave to Adam was to cultivate (Genesis 2:15). God put Adam in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and take care of it. He also told him to name the animals and whatever he called each creature, that was its name. God gave man that responsibility to cultivate and name everything around him, including the woman.

To cultivate means to grow and to develop and Christ is the best example of a true lover and husband. Ephesians 5:25-28, shows Christ cultivating his Bride (the Church): He gave himself up for her, making her holy, cleansing her by washing through the word, presenting her to himself as a radiant church (admiring her), making sure she is without stain, wrinkle or blemish, but holy and blameless. Now, that is a good example of cultivation.  It is the role of man to CULTIVATE the women in their lives, making them all that God wants them to be and presenting that woman to himself saying:“ Now this is the bone of my bone…”

Now women must understand this role to be able to relate better with their men and men should understand this role to be able to bring out God’s best in the lives of their women. Lets take time to look at the men in the lives of these women in the bible…

Esther: King Xerxes played an  important role in ensuring that God’s purpose was fulfilled through Esther.

Ruth: Boaz was Ruth’s guardian-redeemer, bringing her in line with the purpose of God.
 

I remember my father walking me down the aisle a few years ago to meet my husband patiently waiting for me. Since then, my husband and I have been walking down this aisle together, but with God patiently waiting for us as we take each step closer to him (God), everyday.