A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (August 21, 2015)
Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord. (Proverbs 18:22)
When is the last time you heard anything good about marriage? When is the last time you saw a movie about a good marriage? The tabloids are always concentrating on Hollywood couples breaking up and who is sleeping with who. The news recently is concentrated on the Ashley Madison website hacking job that is exposing adulterers. We will not be dwelling on all those negatives. We believe in marriage and this devotional will concentrate on the good points of a strong healthy marriage and not all the failures.
My wife and I have been married 48 years, raised 3 sons, and presently have 7 grand children. We have been through a lot in 48 years, which has included 33 years in the ministry. We’ve had the privilege of teaching numerous marriage seminars in the United States and Canada. The following are a few things that we have learned over the years about marriage.
1. Once you fall in love, everything does not just fall into place. Ignorance is not bliss. Each spouse brings their own baggage to the party and it takes a covenant relationship (marriage) to act as glue to hang in there. You have to work at it. You might say you are each other’s heavenly sandpaper.
2. There are a few key building blocks that are essential to a good strong marriage. These include communication (talk), truth, romance, temperance, security, forgiveness, and a healthy sex life. There are also key enemies to each of these building blocks. They include vain imaginations in place of talk; lies and deception in place of truth; temptation in place of romance; addiction in place of temperance; debt in place of security; bitterness in place of forgiveness; and adultery or porn in place of a healthy sex life.
Marriage is a team sport. The scriptures tell us that man is not independent of woman and woman is not independent of man (1 Corinthians 11:11-12). We both have our strengths and we both have our weaknesses. In most marriages the spouses are opposite from each other. That is a good thing, not a bad thing. It just takes some maturity to recognize it and flow with it.
My wife is the best counselor I have ever heard. She spends probably 3-4 hours a day on the phone with people all over the United States, most of whom she doesn’t even know. As I sit and listen to her counsel and pray with people I am always amazed at how God gives her wise counsel and inspirational prayers to minister to these people. I am not that person. I just don’t have that gift. My best counsel is “admit it and quit it”.
On the other hand, I am the writer, accountant, computer tech and overall detail person. I write our daily devotionals and any of the books or articles we publish. I review any major written communication that my wife writes because she is not a detail person. We recognize each other’s weaknesses and we operate as a team.
Marriage is described in the Bible as a “one flesh” relationship. That means we are to complete each other, not compete with each other. When God created woman he took a rib out of man to create her. Think about that! In actuality the woman is man’s other self. Man was made in God’s image and when man and woman come together as one flesh they are more like God than any other time. That is why a marriage can be so powerful. And that is why the enemy fights so hard to tear down marriages. He knows that if you and your spouse are in unity together, and in unity with God, he is defeated.
Marriage is a good thing! It is a powerful thing! It is a God thing!
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Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:6)
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (Ephesians 5:31)
