Maybe you’ve heard of the
woman who was married to a very strict, demanding man who had a list of rules
for her to follow without deviation. Her life was very frustrating, although
her husband was at heart a good man who never asked her to do anything wrong.
It is just that he had a rule for everything, and she was always tense because
she was always trying to meet his expectations.
Well, after decades of marriage, this woman became so used
to living by her husband’s rules that when he died, she panicked. She didn’t
know how to function on her own without her husband, so she had him embalmed
and took him back home. Worse yet, she still asked the corpse every day for
permission to do anything.
But this woman finally decided to get away, so she took a
vacation to Europe and met a wonderful man. He
treated her kindly, showing her great tenderness and love. She discovered she
did things for this man not because she had to but because she wanted to. They
fell in love, decided to get married, and agreed to come back to the United States
When the happy newlyweds arrived home, however, the new
husband’s jaw dropped when he saw the corpse of the woman’s first husband on
the sofa. The woman quickly explained, “I love you, darling, but you must
understand I lived with this man for so long I can’t really function without
him. I need to keep him nearby.”
The woman’s new husband let her know in no uncertain terms
that he wasn’t about to live with a dead man in the house. She would have to
choose between her deceased former husband and her new love. I told you this
was an absurdity! But this is what we do spiritually when we try to live by the
Law after Christ has forgiven and received us by grace. Let’s bury that corpse and
move on, because mixing law and grace will never work (Tony Evans, Free at Last), 63.
