141 Chores
Lara was trapped in a bad marriage. Her husband Andy was domineering and abusive. Every day he would give Linda a list of chores to do around the house while he went to work. He would expect her to finish the list by the time he went home. If Lara did finish the list or did not do as good a job as Andy would like, he would yell at hear and call her incompetent. Sometimes if he were in a particularly bad mood, he would even hit her.
Lara was miserable and hated that list. She was tired of living in fear of her husband and yearned to be free. That list seemed to be like a relentless slave master, calling her to do chore after chore.
When Andy died in a car accident after driving home home drunk from a bar, Lara was not sad. She shed no tears for him at his funeral. She felt relieved, in fact. All she could think was that the slave master was dead. No more chores for to do, ever again.
A couple years later, Lara fell in love with a man named Kevin and married him after a short courtship. Kevin was everything Andy was not: loving, kind, gentle, always supportive. Lara's life with Kevin was so different and so much more happier than with Andy. Kevin would ask Lara's opinion on major financial issues and he willingly divided the housework with Lara. Lara lovingly carried out these duties for Kevin. These household duties did not seem like a burden at all in Lara's mind. She actually enjoyed performing these household duties.
Several years later, Lara discovered one of Andy's old list of chores while she was cleaning out her storage closet. Lara started trembling in anger as she saw the list. She was about to tear it up into little pieces and throw it away, but for some reason, she hesitated. Lara read the list of chores. To her amazement, the chores Andy forced her to do were exactly the same household duties Kevin had asked her to do! Lara sat down, dumbstruck. The burden of the old slave master felt like nothing now because of her love for Kevin.
God's law has never changed. However, love can change an attitude of resentful servitude to delightful cooperation.
- Recommended reading: Romans 7:1-6
