God’s Blueprint for Marriage

What is love? Well if you ask the world you come up with a very different answer than if you ask God.

What are your expectations for your marriage? Are you hoping that your spouse will meet all your needs, behave perfectly, and never cause you any undo harm? If those are your expectations, maybe you signed up for the Disney package for marriage, you know the one where everyone lives happily ever after, nobody ever fights, and life is perfect. Alright, let’s get a grip and get back to reality. Our spouses are just as flawed as we are, they will never meet all of our needs, they will behave badly and they will bring troubles and heartache into our lives. So does this mean that we are doomed to a lifetime of misery? Certainly not. God is always to the rescue with a blueprint of how to live Godly lives through our marriages.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.

I’m sure we have all heard these verses more times than we care to remember, but what do they really mean? Have you ever sat down and thought about what that kind of love looks like on a day-to-day basis? What about the part about not keeping records or wrongdoing? Because that would suggest that we have a contractual marriage with our spouse when God wants us to have a covenant marriage. A covenant marriage allows grace, forgiveness, and a focus on love instead of a focus on how many needs of mine can you meet? (which our spouse cant meet all of our needs, only Jesus can do that, so that plan is already set up for failure) What if in our marriage we were only focused on loving each other unconditionally, putting the others needs ahead of ours (the kind of love that God demonstrates for us), and seeing how the rest of the details play out from there. How could you demonstrate unconditional love to your spouse? In a healthy marriage, we must trust in God that he will fill the void of our needs that our spouse is unable to fulfill.

One need that everyone has is our emotional and spiritual health. This week ask your spouse how you can pray for them and DO IT, every day for seven days. If they don’t pick up on the hint, offer kindly how they can pray for you as well. And for extra credit, pray together every day. You only need to spend less than 5 minutes doing this, but just see what happens to your marriage when you start praying together. I can’t wait to hear how things are going so please share in the comments box down below how God is moving in your life and in your marriage.