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Marital matters
Marital Matters
On Tuesday, September 6th, Lawrence Ripple drove to a bank in Kansas City with a gun and a note. He showed the note to the teller — “I have a gun. Give me money.” The teller frantically grabbed $3,000 from the drawer and handed it to Ripple. With money and gun in hand, rather than running, Ripple sat down in the lobby. The security guard approached with confused caution. “I’m the guy you’re looking for,” he told the guard. The police came and arrested Ripple. No one was injured. Later, when police questioned Ripple about the episode. His reply? “I’d rather be in jail than at home with my wife.” Apparently, he had been married for 33 years, but when she started nagging him about fixing the dryer, that was the last straw. In Ripple’s mind, his only way out was to rob a bank. Consider some lessons from this story.
1) Men can be cowards. Rather than handling his responsibility toward his wife, Ripple ran away. Rather than dwelling with his wife in an understanding manner (1 Peter 3:7), he panicked. Rather than manning up and fixing the dryer, he took the easy (albeit crazy) way out. “But for the cowardly…their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8). Hint: Men usually run away when they’re afraid and ashamed they’re letting their women down. We run when we feel like failures. Wives, encourage your husbands.
2) Women can be nags. “It is better to live in a corner of a roof [or in jail] than in a house shared with a contentious woman.” (Proverbs 21:9). What Ripple did was insane, but I don’t doubt his wife helped drive him to that insanity. I doubt the dryer was the only thing she nagged him about, and after 33 years of it he snapped. “The wife must see to it that she respects her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33). Hint: Women nag when they don’t feel cherished, heard, or safe. Husbands, cherish, listen to, and protect your wives.
3) Count your blessings. If you’re having marital struggles, at least you haven’t reached Ripple level! Take heart — neither of you are in jail, so there is still hope to turn things around! God loves new beginnings! “His lovingkindness is new every morning,” (Lamentations 3:22-23) and yours can be too!
4) Marriage isn’t the key to happiness; God is. The Ripples weren’t miserable because he was a coward and she was a nag. They were miserable because they didn’t have God. There’s a myth in society, especially among Christians, that you can’t be happy unless you find a spouse. But if you’re relying on another human being to be the sole source of your soul joy, you may end up in a cell with Ripple. The strongest marriages are between two people who “rejoice in the Lord always.” (Phil. 4:4).
