appreciation, all the while resenting it on the inside. He, too concealed his annoyance with her. These two lovely young people were putting up a hypocritical front. Outwardly, everything was right, but inside what explosive feelings were at work. Finally, the inevitable hap pened. His wife let him have it squarely, “I’m sick of having you tell me what to do! Go away and leave me alone!” These two had been lying to each other. These were the hidden things of dishonesty. When they came to see me there was a severe coldness which had developed in their relationship. They hadn’t been involved in any big arguments, yet they realized there was a wall of solid steel built between them. T h e re ’s a song th a t declares, “There’s a wall between us, and it’s not made of stone. And the more we’re together the more we’re alone.” The wall was erected on the basis of working hard to deceive each oth er. Now, the individual who walks in the power of God is a person who has renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. His objective is to mani fest the truth, “commanding himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” P art T hree T here are wonderful results in store for the individual who yields himself to the power of God in daily experience. There is a sufficiency of grace available to us. We must have a realistic relationship with people, avoiding all forms of hypocrisy. As a counselor I make a conscious at tempt to discern what kind of an in dividual to whom I’m talking. Gen erally, it’s very, very difficult. We have to rely on what people are will ing to tell us about themselves. It’s a very difficult thing to be honest. A young lady came to me for counseling. I told her she would have to be honest. When the session was 9
Finally, however, the eighth night, he had had it. He brought her into the living room and said rather heat edly, “You see the cobweb up there in the comer ? This is the eighth day it’s been there.” He was totally amazed when she took him in her arms, and exclaimed, “Honey, I’m so glad I ’m married to you. I’ll be a better woman and wife with your help!” She went out to the kitchen for a broom. By now, he felt like a heel. She had taken it so nicely. He didn’t know what she was saying to herself on the way to the kitchen, “Why doesn’t he clean the cobweb off himself?” By the time she came back there was a smile on her face as she took care of the task. Apparently everything was fine, at least on the surface. It wasn’t too much longer after that when the two of them were washing dishes together. He studied her efforts carefully, for after all, he was an efficiency engineer. It really made him upset because of her methods. They were just backward and too time-consuming. Finally he suggested, “Do you rea lize th a t you’re washing those dishes cross handed?” Isn’t that the cardinal sin of efficiency? He explained in great detail the proper way anyone should work. If it'd been you, what would you have said? She wiped her hands on her apron and put her arms around him to thank him superficial ly at least with, “Honey, you know, I never have thought of that by my self. Thank you!” Again, he felt like a heel. But underneath as she swirled the dishwater she was saying, “Brother, is he going to tell me how to run this kitchen?” Of course, he didn’t know it. Since his wife had been so ap preciative of his advice, he started looking around the kitchen for other ways of efficiency. He had sugges tions on the way she stacked dishes, fixed the cupboard, lined up the pan try. Each time she expressed her
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