My friend has been through verbal abuse with her husband for years.\u00a0 She has prayed, fasted, and believed for him to come to Christ.\u00a0 A few months ago she confronted him on his behavior and left for a while to see what would take place.\u00a0 In that period he has repented, come to Christ, and now is saying that she has to come back because he is a Christian now.\u00a0 She is trying to heal from her broken heart from all the things he has done to her.\u00a0 She doesn’t want to be out of God’s will but needs time and is still seeking His face to know what to do.\u00a0 Biblically does she have to return now that he is saved?<\/p>\n
Thank you for your information on this.<\/p>\n\t
So what you are saying is that while she told God she wanted her husband saved, she was really being hypocritical.<\/p>\n
Consider this story:<\/p>\n
“There is a tight-rope stretched across Niagara Falls and a crowd gathers a young man as he pulls a unicycle out of a box. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention! Let me see a show of hands: How many of you believe that I can ride across the Falls on this unicycle and safely reach the other side?’ The crowd, being eager to see the feat, enthusiastically raise their hands and cry out, ‘We do! We do!’ The man replies, ‘Wait! That’s not all! How many of you believe I can ride safely across while balancing someone on my shoulders?’ Again the crowd waves their hands and shout, ‘We do! We do!’ Then the man says, ‘Great! Now, which one of you will volunteer to be the one on my shoulders?’ All hands quickly drop and the crowd becomes absolutely silent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is why James said, “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works”<\/em>” (James 2:18).<\/p>\n
The key point is that Jesus said, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses<\/em>” (Matthew 6:14-15). She knows what she ought to do, that she is reluctant to obey the command of the Lord speaks volumes.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: My friend has been through verbal abuse with her husband for years.\u00a0 She has prayed, fasted, and believed for him to come to Christ.\u00a0 A few months ago she confronted him on his behavior and left for a while to see what would take place.\u00a0 In that period he has repented, come to Christ,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[167,1571],"class_list":["post-27676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-divorce","tag-forgiveness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20090,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-help-my-aunt-who-has-been-in-a-long-abusive-relationship\/","url_meta":{"origin":27676,"position":0},"title":"How do I help my aunt who has been in a long abusive relationship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My aunt has been married for a very long time and has been verbally and emotionally abused for the majority of her marriage.\u00a0 She has one daughter who also was verbally and emotionally abused by her father growing up.\u00a0 My uncle has cheated on my aunt numerous times that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14944,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-husband-commits-adultery-after-his-wife-divorces-him-can-she-remarry\/","url_meta":{"origin":27676,"position":1},"title":"If a husband commits adultery after his wife divorces him, can she remarry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My sister has decided to leave her physically abusive, alcoholic husband. She doesn't have plans to divorce him and is hoping that eventually, he'll realize he needs help. She knows what a scriptural divorce is and that this does not constitute remarriage. I don't think he will ever change,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19886,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-it-wrong-to-leave-a-marriage-when-my-ex-husband-had-tried-to-kill-my-son-and-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":27676,"position":2},"title":"Was it wrong to leave a marriage when my ex-husband had tried to kill my son and me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was I wrong to leave the marriage? My ex-husband tried to kill my son and me. He told me that he was a baptized Christian. Then he said he was Catholic. After that, he said he did not believe in God at all and cursed His name many times.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39580,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-husband-who-is-an-addict-left-me-what-do-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":27676,"position":3},"title":"My husband, who is an addict, left me. What do I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read the answer you gave regarding the woman who was still bitter as her husband left and she was still angry toward her mother-in-law although she had passed away. I wonder about my own situation and how your answers here apply. My husband left me and my two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41401,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-friends-wife-has-attacked-him-with-a-knife-she-is-now-seeing-another-man-can-he-remarry\/","url_meta":{"origin":27676,"position":4},"title":"My friend’s wife has attacked him with a knife. She is now seeing another man. Can he remarry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I found your website to be so accurate to the teaching of the Bible. While so many churches twist the Word of God, your advice is exactly to the point of the teachings of Jesus. I have a friend who is in a situation. My friend was in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16840,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-pornography-a-just-cause-for-divorce-that-allows-remarriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":27676,"position":5},"title":"Is pornography a just cause for divorce that allows remarriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have recently begun a wonderful relationship with a lady friend.\u00a0 Over the last four months or so we have developed a wonderful friendship which has recently blossomed into a budding romance.\u00a0 However, she has, within the last six months or so, filed for divorce from her husband\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}