Believe it or not, marriage really was God’s idea. God made man, and the Lord knew that Adam was pretty helpless without a proper helpmate.
So out of the chaos, God brought order in presenting to Adam, Eve. And suddenly Adam didn’t have to try to find his soulmate in one of the animals that he had been busily naming.
When he first made eye contact with Eve, I believe that Adam gave a very approving, “Wow!” To this very day, marriage is clear proof of God’s creative purpose at work. The joining together of two persons who more often than not couldn’t be more opposite, and then bringing them together to become one.
Marriage is evidence that one of the greatest priorities of life should be relationships. The greatest commandment is for us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. The second commandment is for us to love one another in the same sacrificial manner that the Lord loves us.
When we start living to be primarily about giving, there is no possible way we can miss our true calling and purpose. When a husband takes a wife, it allows God room to establish a new family, a new legacy and a new heritage.
Together as a couple, this union will open the door to accomplishments that could never be done alone or with anybody else. That is why I am a big fan of couples choosing to enter into the covenant of marriage over non-committal cohabitation. Where there is no stepping out by faith building a foundation based upon solemn vows made before God and others, there is also no accountability or fight to stay with one another through every season of life, the good, the bad, the ugly and the very beautiful.
If you are already married, what have you done lately to show your spouse that you are just as dedicated to those weighty words of love that you once shared with one another when your journey was beginning?
Are you honestly bringing your best effort and your “A” game to the union in order to keep the flames of passion burning bright? Are you even trying to communicate, “I Love You,” on a regular basis?
Or have you allowed apathy and routine to steal, kill and destroy the hopes and dreams you once held so dear for a happily-ever-after partnership?
Eugene Peterson, in his paraphrase of the New Testament called, “The Message” translates the Love Chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 like this. Let these words marinate in the crockpot of your heart and use them as a way to evaluate if you are treating love as the verb that it was always meant to be.
Paul said, “If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always “me first,” doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always. It constantly seeks the best, never looks back, and keeps going to the end. Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the complete finally arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. So for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best and greatest of the three is love.”
Give your very best to the one that you claim to love the most. If you can be kind to others, then you can be gracious and compassionate to the one you promised forever to.
Communication takes time and even if you can’t always understand what your spouse is trying to say, at least be willing to get help in the translation.
Talk to one another and not at one another. Be honest and truthful and don’t hide things in the closet that you would be embarrassed if your loved ones saw it.
Look up for God’s strength and help when it comes to living a life of love. Stop making excuses and start executing strategies of intentional ways to make love real.
Stop with the guilt. Sever the attached strings that hinder you from offering unconditional love. Do something outlandish and unexpected. Sweep her off her feet and stop tripping her up.
Knock him out with your God-given beauty and cease making your times together a battle. Remember and rekindle what attracted you to one another in the first place.
Make divorce the last resort. Dare to dive into the deep end of the ocean to rescue your beloved rather than seeing your hopes and dreams drown as you watch from a deadly distance.
Why not review your vows so you can renew your vows? Take her in your arms and let her know that you cherish and treasure her.
Join hands and pray with one another trusting God together from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, till death do you part.
Kiss your bride and smooch your groom. Do whatever it takes to prove that your love is neither cheap nor common; indeed, it is of unimaginable worth.
Brag about one another. Treat her like a Princess. Make him know that he is still your Prince.
Love in word and deed. Be willing to plant the seed so that God can redeem your vineyard anew.
It is only too late if you have given up. But this could be the start of returning romance to your relationship.
If God loves us with a honeymoon love, why would we settle for anything less?
I have set the table. I have cooked up some challenges. I have invited you to the feast. Will you do your part to make love come alive again?
Del Haven – To the Middle Twp. Police administrator who said he was on the outside looking in at the police dept.. You are correct. You have no idea what you are doing and how you make your officers feel. You…
