Marriage

I was talking to a friend one day, and he was telling me that from the age of eighteen to thirty-six he smoked. When he quit, it wasn’t because of health warnings on the cigarette pack. It was because he didn’t want his children to be harmed by secondhand smoke. In other words, what he wouldn’t do for himself, he did for love. God calls a man and a woman to join together and become one flesh. And it’s within the miracle of that one-flesh relationship that we discover what we’re willing to do for love. We discover that we’re willing to make sacrifices, to forgive, and to pursue someone else’s interests beyond our own. Just as the Holy Trinity is a mystery, so too is marriage. Within that mystery I give and receive mercy and forgiveness, I nurture and I, too, am nurtured, and I earnestly pray for God’s best for someone other than myself. I do these things because when one of us prospers, we both prosper. No matter what life is throwing at you today, make time to nurture your marriage. You will likely find that in the end, everything you invest in blessing your husband will come back to bless you as well.

WHEN YOU’RE TEMPTED TO OVERCOMPLICATE WHAT MAKES MARRIAGE WORK . . .

Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

WHEN YOU NEED TO HEAR THAT GOD’S DESIGN FOR SEX IN MARRIAGE IS BEAUTIFUL . . .

The man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

WHEN YOU NEED TO REMEMBER YOU SERVE YOUR SPOUSE FOR HIS SAKE . . .

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.