Chapter 2: WAKING UP WITH THE WORST OF SINNERS – the News About Who We Really Are

  • Saturday, March 1, 2008

  • Dave Harvey lives in my world. I have been teaching and trying to help marriages and parenting the past 8 years and have been really been teaching myself. Almost every lesson on marriage has been an experience of taking the log out of my own eye before I present the material.

    It is comforting Dave Harvey is there and very comforting the Apostle Paul as well, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of WHOM I AM THE WORST.” (1 Timothy 1:15) But of greater comfort is the next verse, “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:16)

    So my sin is painfully ugly but I have been joyfully redeemed by grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. My ongoing need of the cross of Christ is because of my ongoing sin against God and as I realize more and more the mercy of God, I see God, myself, and my marriage much more clearly.

    1. Think back to a recent conflict you had with your spouse where you displayed a sinful response. What were you thinking or feeling that led to such a response?

    2. How do you often look at yourself as a sinner?
    *I’m doing the best I can everyday
    *I have good days and I have bad days
    *I am not as bad as some others
    *I am innocent until proven guilty
    *I am the worst of sinners

    3. How does your answer to number 2 affect your approach to God and to your marriage?

    4. John Owen describes humility on page 44. Is this your understanding of it? How would you define humility?

    5. What do your suppose would be some of the differences that can happen in your marriage if for the next 6 weeks you would make it your goal to live with your spouse as if you were the worst of sinners?

    Check out Dave Harvey’s video introduction to chapters 2 through 4 at this link:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B27SBw-ej-w&feature=related

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