New and Improved

RISE AND SHINE FOR JESUS

BY: PAMELA IANNELLO

(my late mother)

"NEW AND IMPROVED" 

Proverbs 9:17 (KJV)

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

The first thing that stands out to me as I read this verse is how strong sexual temptation is and how powerfully alluring it can be to become engaged in an adulterous affair. Ladies, it is important that we know our competition! Sticking your head in the sand is not going to help you preserve your marriage. Pretending that highly promising and capable competitors will never knock at the door of your home is unwise. Not caring to look this matter square in the eye is foolish of you! More often than not, the fact that stolen waters and secret bread type situations are sinful and short-lived forms of gratification is irrelevant to the individual being drawn away from doing right. These scenarios are first introduced as SWEET and PLEASANT!

I have a question for you… Does that describe your disposition as a wife? Are you making it easier for your husband to be introduced to genuinely satisfying relations with other women? May I say that if your husband is being served sweet water and pleasant bread at home, his taste buds will not be so effortlessly excited by flavors they are already accustomed to sampling on a daily basis! 

The opposite of sweet is bitter; the opposite of pleasant is disagreeable. In considering these antonyms as they fit into this verse, are we getting closer to the description of your wifely disposition or farther away? Certainly if your husband is being pulled in an immoral direction I am not hinting at the fact that it would be your entire fault – but you could definitely be an accomplice to the crime!!

Yes, Proverbs 17:18 does go on to say that misery and death waits on the other side of stolen waters and secret bread. But what does your husband stand to lose if that is how he would describe his relationship with you anyway?? In either case he knows he'll be miserable but every man still wants and needs and warmly welcomes the sweet and pleasant side of life! Outside of his relationship with the Lord, what is at stake between the two of you?

Perhaps it is time that you supplied a superior class of water and bread at your house, dear wife. Manufacturers are always changing their products to get them to sell, why don’t you try it too? “NEW AND IMPROVED” is an appealing slogan that just might draw your husband a little bit closer to home if you lived by it as a wife!  Be sweet and pleasant – don’t provoke your husband to steal these qualities from another woman or search for them in secret!