Once I was told that Father Knows Best was a moral TV program. In this show Father was ideal in looks, judgement and intelligence. But what if Father doesn’t know best? Perhaps he treats Mother like a door mat. Perhaps he can’t handle responsibility or money. Perhaps he cannot make up his mind, or perhaps he just isn’t fair. It’s a piece of cake to do what is right in ideal circumstances, but the true test of Christianity is in doing what is right when it doesn’t pay off in this life.
The Bible says there is great reward in doing what is right even when it does not pay off in our mortality. “For what credit is it, if when you do wrong and are beaten for it you take it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you take it patiently, you have God’s approval.” (1 Pet. 2:20 RSV)
Perhaps Father treats Mother like a door mat. This goes against scripture as husbands are supposed to love their wives. However, two wrongs don’t make a right. The wife in this case should be satisfied with having God’s approval fa doing right. God’s approval is eternal her husband’s is not.
Husbands are supposed to love their wives even when circumstances are less than ideal. The wife may be an ungrateful nag who spends money like there i: no tomorrow. If he loves her he will have God’s approval even if she continue: to add nothing to the relationship.
It is not whether you win or lose but how you play the game. We get God’s approval by doing what is right in less than ideal circumstances. The true test of Christianity is in doing what is right when it doesn’t pay off in this life.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One