For better or for worse? Whichever term describes your marriage, there are ways to make it (even) better. That’s because God has designed marriage to be a relationship of deep unity and strength. Despite the challenges that couples face today, marital harmony need not be considered an impossible ideal.
Wayne A. Mack recognizes the challenges before us, and shows us how to meet those challenges with growing success. In this book, he has gathered a wealth of biblical insight and practical information on marital roles, communication, finances, sex, child rearing, and family worship. Both as a counseling aid and as a guide for husbands and wives to study together, this book offers true hope and help where couples need it most.
Wayne A. Mack is professor of biblical counseling at Strengthening Ministries Training Institute and director of Association of Certified Biblical Counselors—Africa. He has written over twenty-five books, including Preparing for Marriage God’s Way.
“I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Ps. 18:1–2)
After being chased by enemies and betrayed by people he loved, David begins here: I love you, Lord. That isn’t always my go-to prayer when relational disappointments leave me feeling frustrated, left out, and hurt! My inner passive-aggressive, pain-avoidant girl nags me to let her out. I can stress and turn inward, which usually results in self-pity. Surely I deserve relief, right, Lord?! Surely you want me to be loved as I want to be loved, right, Lord?!
Ouch. How did my relational motivations get so tangled up in me? I want to love Jesus and people with a sincere heart. When I’m disappointed, it’s easy to forget the most foundational and beautiful truth of my identity—I’m loved and known by God. God’s love for me in Christ enables me to love people rather than demand they love me.
When we forget who we are and who God is, it’s easy to rush after earthly relationships that seem to promise escape from all pain and disappointment. Sometimes certain people stir a desire in us to have them meet all our needs, soothe our hearts, or save us in some way. Relationships are a good gift, but even the most loving, well-meaning people can’t ultimately deliver us from inner pain or provide unfailing love. Not really.
David, like us, needed to learn that only the Lord is a constant safe place, a refuge in this life of storms and unexpected relational weather we can’t control. Look at his descriptions of the Lord: my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my shield, my stronghold.
David’s use of the word my brings a personal and specific touch to his heartfelt cries. The Lord isn’t only the most trustworthy refuge; he is your and my faithful shelter.
Do you turn to the Lord for help regarding your relational struggles, or do you look elsewhere? God is our safe harbor in our relational storms. He changes our hearts to love him more than we love what people can give to us. He is tender toward us when we’re weary, unsure if we can really overcome long-held unhealthy relational patterns. Even when we forsake him and insist on seeking security in the companionship and attention of people, the Lord doesn’t tire of pursuing us. Unlike weak and sinful humans, his bandwidth for loving us is unfailing and inexhaustible!
I love you, Lord. Turn toward him and begin here today. Through Christ, God delivers us from unhelpful (and unholy) patterns in our relationships and strengthens us to trust him.
All the books in the Reformed Expository Commentary series are accessible to both pastors and lay readers. Each volume in the series provides exposition that gives careful attention to the biblical text, is doctrinally Reformed, focuses on Christ through the lens of redemptive history, and applies the Bible to our contemporary setting.
“Well researched and well reasoned, practical and pastoral, shrewd, solid, and searching.”—J. I. Packer
“A rare combination of biblical insight, theological substance, and pastoral application.”—R. Albert Mohler Jr.
“This series promises to be both exegetically sensitive and theologically faithful.”—Mark Dever
Reformed Expository Bible Study series
As tools for biblical transformation, Reformed Expository Bible Studies are designed to help groups and individuals to study the Bible for themselves—understanding it and applying its truths to daily life.
“Having benefitted, along with many others, from the excellent and accessible Reformed Expository Commentary series, I heartily commend this companion initiative.” —Harry Reeder
“I am thankful to see this development in the Reformed Expository Commentary series, allowing these excellent, pastoral commentaries to get an even wider use in the church.”—Bryan Chapell
“Jon Nielson asks questions on the text that will make the reader think. . . . The Reformed Expository Bible Study series will help readers to understand every text in light of the whole of the Bible—as well as the person and work of Christ.”—Nancy Guthrie
Here are the titles that we have in both series so far.
Encouragement is vital to the spiritual health of all Christians. It’s a blessing to both the encouraged and the encourager. As God’s children, it’s our responsibility to provide comfort to others. But when the need for comfort arises due to tragedy or hardship, we often fail to encourage our friends and family because we feel too awkward or nervous.
In this practical twelve-week study on the power of biblical encouragement, Sharon Betters shows how to harness encouragement to help those in need, even when it’s difficult. We discover that a strong foundation in Christ enables us to step into the suffering of others and show them the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Through inspiring stories, key principles, and ideas for putting biblical encouragement into action, readers will learn that by sharing in each other’s suffering, we can bring joy and contentment to our community and to ourselves.
Endorsements
“People often ask me how to walk alongside friends who are hurting. Practical, honest, and steeped in Scripture, this book provides better answers than anything else I have read. I have turned to it again and again, both for comfort in my own suffering as well as for ideas for ministering to others. I read the original twenty-three years ago, shortly after my son died, and it was truly a treasure of encouragement to me. Sharon’s words shaped my thinking and helped me to press into the Lord as I wrestled with questions, doubts, and fear. I am indebted to her for this work, and after you read Treasures of Encouragement, you will be too. I highly recommend it!”
—Vaneetha Rendall Risner, Author, Walking through Fire and The Scars That Have Shaped Me
“While reading Sharon Betters’s passionate appeal to practice the privilege of God-glorifying, Spirit-empowered, biblical encouragement, my heart was arrested. I closed the book to contact a hurting friend. Treasures of Encouragement has the potential to transform churches into powerhouses of Christ’s compassion and love. May it be so!”
—Leslie Bennett, Speaker, Author, Leader Connection (Blog) Content Manager, Revive Our Hearts; Editor, Women’s Ministry Leader Survival Guide and 10 Truths to Set Leaders Free
“Treasures of Encouragement is a timely reminder of the power of God’s Word to change a life and to make the impossible doable. I appreciated the encouragement to look around and see that I have a part in helping the Lord to comfort the wounded and restore the hurting. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants to experience more of the grace of God.”
—Annie Chapman, Singer; Speaker; Author, Letting Go of Anger and The Mother-in-Law Dance
“To encourage is to inspire courage, hope, or confidence. Twenty-five years ago, I picked up Treasures of Encouragement as a young pastor’s wife who was desperately looking for these comforts. The truths contained within these covers have stood the test of time and personally sustained me. I am delighted to endorse this new edition of Treasures of Encouragement.”
—Karen Hodge, Coordinator of Women’s Ministries, Presbyterian Church in America; Author, Transformed and Life-giving Leadership
About the Author
Sharon Betters is a mother of four and grandmother of nine. She is a nationally known conference and retreat speaker and has also spoken to women’s groups in Africa and Japan. Author of Treasures of Encouragement, Treasures of Faith, and Treasures in Darkness, she has also contributed articles to Today’s Christian Woman, Virtue, and Christian Parenting Today.
You are holding a piece of history—a book written more than sixty years ago by a man who had a passion to see justice done in the world, and particularly in the United States of America. At that time, many white Christians promoted the separation of the races and tried to defend it as compatible with Christian ethics. Interracial marriage was viewed as a sin. For some, even the casual or friendly association of Black and white people was suspect. A grievous embrace of worldly racial ideology made this book necessary, and Rev. C. Herbert Oliver, with bold commitment to biblical truth, rose to meet that need. He did more than write. In 1959, the year this book was originally published, he moved from Maine back to his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, to participate as an activist in the civil rights movement.
Is there need for this book today? We believe that there is. Rev. Oliver’s reliance on the Word of God fills his writing with enduring wisdom as he speaks of the complex nature of humankind. He writes as one of God’s champions of truth, graciously and firmly, and so we can learn from both his message and the way in which he conveys it.
The need for this book, however, goes deeper than this. When truths about human beings are exchanged for lies, the damage is profound. Worldly racial ideologies remain with us to this day, often in new forms. As the world and the church continue to grapple with racism and related issues, we would do well to listen to the insights of a man who took up the fight in decades past. We are grateful to Rev. Oliver for his bold commitment to this cause.
We are also grateful to Mr. Charles H. Craig, who in the 1950s helped to promote a message so controversial in its day. Mr. Craig had headed Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company for only two years when he published No Flesh Shall Glory. He had an interest in social causes—having formerly been involved with Big Brothers of New York City—and a desire to promote biblical understanding on a wide range of issues.
Rev. Oliver writes as a graduate of Wheaton College and Westminster Theological Seminary and as a pastor in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church—in a style both pastoral and academic. Thus, although No Flesh Shall Glory has some technical elements, it is broadly accessible. We have made very few changes to the text. His 1964 paper “The Church and Social Change” has immediate application for discussions today and is a good starting point for those getting acquainted with his work. We are delighted to be able to include it in this volume as well.
