Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work, I'm Patrick Miller. Today we're beginning Peter's second letter in the

New Testament and this particular letter has a passage that has made a massive

impact on my personal life but But before I get there, let me try to set this up

with the story. The other day I came home and gave my wife some flowers and she

asked me why I gave her flowers and I said well it's because I'm your husband and

it's my duty to do nice things for you and it's my duty to treat you whoa okay that

that didn't really happen I never said that to my wife. But imagine I did. How do you think she would respond?

Well, it might not be very good. So let's try it again. If your wife asks you why you brought flowers,

here's a better answer, because I was thinking about you because I love you.

And these flowers are really too little, but I hope that they'd give you a fraction of the joy that you give me.

Well, that's obviously a better answer the first answer but why you see both are kind of true. both are kind of true right husbands make promises to wives and they do have duties and

responsibilities, but it's also true that I love my wife and that just makes me

want to give her nice things, that makes me want to celebrate her but we know which one is

better not just doing the right thing but doing the right thing with the best

motivations and I should say there's something much worse which is doing the wrong thing.

In Glenn and Doyle's book Untamed, she assures her readers that they should never do anything they don't truly desire.

In other words, if the husband doesn't love his wife, no longer delights in her,

no longer enjoys her, he'd be better served to service her with divorce papers rather than bring

her flowers. Now of course that's terrible advice as well. Sometimes when my daughter's telling me a long story I listen a little more out of duty than I do out of delight.

But I find fulfilling my duties trains me to delight and my daughter in new ways.

Every time I listen, I find the next listening a little easier and also a little more sincere.

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